


Through Seas of Stars

by AidaHwedo



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Stargate SG-1
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Crossover, Dissociative Episode, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, No Beta We Die as Men, Resurrection, Trent Ikithon is sir not appearing in this fic but deserves his own warning tag anyway, hinted shadowgast, hinted widomauk, implied/suspected autistic Caleb Widogast, other tags added as needed, spoilers for episodes 26-76 of Critical Role
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:00:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 74,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21552679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidaHwedo/pseuds/AidaHwedo
Summary: Mollymauk doesn't know how he survived nor does he know why Caleb is currently a little kid or who the other kid is; but, he does know that he would do anything to get the rest of his family back. Including walking the spaces between the stars.
Relationships: Daniel Jackson/Sha're
Comments: 195
Kudos: 311
Collections: Never Knew I Needed





	1. I'm Lost in the Woods and I Wander Alone

**Author's Note:**

> This story goes completely AU after episode 76 of Critical Role and takes place roughly between episodes S2 E18 and before S3 E10 of Stargate SG-1.

His strength was fading, he was bleeding sluggishly from half a dozen shallow cuts and starting to tire from throwing blasts of magical energy similar to the ones that Fjord could make. Mollymauk tried to focus on dodging the strange not quite magical bolts of energy that the bird (vulture maybe?) helmed fighters were firing from their metal staves and not on the fact that it felt like his body was moving without his permission. He shoved the knowledge that, for the second time in his life, he felt like a stranger in his own skin into the back of his mind to freak out over later he had to survive first. The stone ring behind him, as well as the faint squirming sounds that he could pick up from somewhere near the fighter’s guts each time he closed the distance to strike with his swords, made the hazy instincts left over from Lucien shriek with alarm. Another blast caused him to dodge directly into melee reach of another fighter pressing up the ramp onto the platform.

He could feel himself pull on the energy within him channeled through his waterskin tracing a brief pattern in the air by sword point with a barked word. Frost rimed his clothing and skin, his body seemed to be running on desperation and instinct without input from his mind. Molly swung the blade in his main hand towards the oncoming soldier, radiant energy casting eerie shadows on their helm and armor. The scimitar’s blade glanced off the armor and he could hear the whimper of the two kids behind him. He quietly assessed how he felt not wanting a desperate repeat of the fight with Lorenzo and concluded that he was still good he could risk trying to get his blood maledict off in an attempt to blind the second asshole coming up the ramp. There were at least six of these fuckers and what looked like another patrol coming out of the tree line. Mollymauk was not about to let the bastards get to his currently pint sized wizard nor the unknown Drow kid huddled behind him. He didn’t know where Nott, Beau, or Keg were but he could only assume that they had been taken by the Iron Shepherds after that fucker Lorenzo had stabbed him. He wasn’t going to fail, not this time.

 _“Your bones will decorate my doorway for ages to come._ ” He growled Infernal rasping over his forked tongue and shredding the air between him and his opponent. The blood maledict he got off earlier hits home on the second fighter coming up the ramp seconds before vicious mockery causes his current opponent stumble dropping the metal staff in favor clutching at his helm. It only takes a matter of seconds for the scimitar in right hand to find a weak point in the armor and drive home. Yanking the blade free from the corpse Mollymauk spun to meet the warrior whom the blood maledict had hit to see that the bird helmet had retracted revealing a man whose eyes were bleeding black ichor. A brief triumphant grin that was more snarl than smile crawled across his lips as the arc of his offhand blade sliced through the man’s throat with all the force of his spin.

 _Two down, four to go_ , He thought. The death of two of their own seemed to throw the remaining soldiers into a frenzied push to capture or kill him and the children. _Over my dead body and I won’t let that happen twice._ The thought was accompanied by another snarling smile that put his mismatched fangs on display. Dodge left, bat another energy blast away re-directing harmlessly away from the platform. He heard the rustling of cloth behind him and Molly didn’t dare look away from the enemies in front of him to see what Caleb and the other child were doing. Once again, this time deliberately, he reached focusing on the sensation of drawing energy through himself and down the blade of his sword. Magic flickered and raced the length of the blade dancing tongues of bright green blue touched with streaks of bright violet. The roiling magic gathered at the point of the blade and was flung into the charging mass as he swung the scimitar in another graceful arc. It knocked them back enough that he felt comfortable enough to attempt to bring the fight to them and Molly tried to activate Summer’s Dance’s Misty Step ability when nothing happened. He was sure that they hadn’t cast dispel magic after all the magical blasts, the bood maledict, and vicious mockery had gone off without any issues and surely if they had someone or something that could cast it they would have before now. It was only then that he realized that the slender curving scimitar in his hand, though it had the same golden hued blade was not Summer’s Dance. The hilt and cross guard were engraved with ferns and holly. Magic, Fascination, confidence and shelter; also defense and domestic happiness respectively his mind supplied unhelpfully as he barely dodged another one of those staff blasts.

 _Back in the game,_ he told himself, _time for this later._ Like when they were safe and he had found the rest of his friends. He could break down then. His arms were beginning to tremble and it was getting harder and harder to dodge those blasts or deflect them. Luckily the encroaching dusk was in his favor unless those utterly bizarre helmets somehow were like Beau’s goggles and gave their wearer darkvision. Desperation swept through Molly as he caught sight of Caleb and the unkown child huddled together in shirts far too large for them and what appeared to be a pile of clothes clearly disoriented and terrified if their dilated pupils and clenched hands gave him any indication. Four against one, not great odds, especially when the one was attempting to protect two who weren’t able to fight at the moment and the enemy had range on their side. _Please let me save them_ , he prayed directing it to the Moonweaver, the Platinum Dragon, The Raven Queen, any gods who would listen. He couldn’t let them down, he had already lost one family and the rest of this family was surely in the clutches of slavers. Mollymauk was not about to let the one member still within his grasp down nor an innocent.

“Just a little longer, Pet. Help is coming.” The whisper flavored with laughter skittered across his left ear and consciousness as if the words weren’t truly spoken aloud at all. It was vaguely familiar in the way that he couldn’t quite place where he had heard the voice before, until Molly remembered that he had heard this same voice just before waking up on the platform of this strange ring surrounded by enemies. A voice that had asked him, “Do you wish to save them?”

There had been only one them that the voice could mean and only one answer that he could give, “Yes.”

“Then wake up.” The voice had told him and he obeyed only to find that he was nowhere near Glory Run Road, with only Caleb at his side and Caleb was now even more fragile than normal. The only thing he knew was that the voice sounded masculine, definitely not the Moonweaver then. He fought down the slight pang of disappointment, he wouldn’t really call himself particularly devout but he would be a lot less concerned if it had been her. Molly wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth so to speak, if it turned out later that there were negative consequences to his trust in this mysterious voice; well they could take care of that when his wizard was the proper age and size again and they had their friends back.

The blunt end of a stave caught him in the side painful but not as much as it should have been, reminding him that he was still in the middle of battle and now was not the time to be getting distracted. Ice crystals crawled along the staff onto his assailant’s hands, causing him to drop the weapon. Okay it was definitely like Fjord’s sea water dreams. That wasn’t reassuring at all, but time for that later when they were safe.

 _“Touch one hair on their heads and I will rip your spine out through your nose.”_ He hissed in infernal as he noticed that one of the bastards were advancing on Caleb and the Drow. Unfortunately the Vicious Mockery seemed to slide right off the asshole. Dammit they were getting his squishy wizard, the only member of his makeshift family left in sight, and the other kid over his dead body and he had already promised that, that wasn’t an option. Throwing himself sideways disengaging from the opponent he was currently fighting and earning another hit from from one of those staff weapons. He closed on his new opponent, when he vaguely heard a shout from somewhere beyond the platform that he couldn’t quite understand and a series of sharp cracks shattered the early evening. The sound distracted his opponent enough that Molly was able to slip round to the man’s back. His swords tore through the seams in the armor finding the tiny weaknesses that all armor had no matter how finely made. A glance to make sure the kids were safe revealed a white lipped Caleb holding a glimmering shield around himself. Well at least kid Caleb was showing more self preservation than adult Caleb generally did. The fighter he had disengaged combat with was aiming the staff to fire again when more of those thunderous cracks punctuated the air and the remaining two fighters beyond the platform dropped with a series of jerks. Snarling he danced to the side as the fired blast passed by his cheek with crackle of energy and a faint metallic smell. Weaving under the man’s guard he noticed that the fighter had retracted that ridiculous helmet and brought his main hand blade up slice through his opponent’s jugular and windpipe. He felt the sensation of a hand on his shoulder and heard that same whisper that seemed to bypass his ear and transfer straight into his mind “Rest help has arrived.”

Only then did he allow himself to fall to his knees the radiant blade of his Rite of the Dawn winking out leaving the blade carnival glass once again. Molly heard the sound of bare feet on stone and the rustling of linen cloth, the only warning he had before Caleb threw himself at him. Catching Caleb in his arms Molly worried at how small and light he felt, though it seemed that in addition to whatever else the Iron Shepards had done to de-age the wizard they had also taken the time to scrub him clean.

“It’s all right, it’s over and we should be safe for a bit. We’ll get the rest back, somehow. Don’t worry.” He murmured pressing a kiss to dark red hair, not sure if he was trying to convince himself or Caleb. For now he was going to trust the voice and hope that the promised help actually was help in truth.


	2. Bad Moon Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just once Col Jack O'Neill would like a quiet mission without something going horribly wrong.

_Whoever ordered today needs to be taken out back and shot_ , Colonel Jack O’Neill thought as he and his team crashed through the underbrush trying to make it to the Stargate before Heru’ur’s Jaffa caught up with them. Seriously just once couldn’t they have a quiet mission, without unexpected nasty surprises? He should have been suspicious from the get go, given they were only investigating this planet at the behest of the Tok’ra in an attempt to keep certain system lords from getting their hands on supposed Ancient technology. A simple investigate and possible snatch and grab. The planet was supposed to be Tal Mak, empty of any sentient life. Given the last time his team had encountered Ancient technology it had hijacked his brain, left him only able to speak Ancient and was rapidly frying it to a near unrecoverable drooling state, they probably should have been more suspicious.

_Murphy just loves to fuck with us_. Of course around four hours into their search for this supposed Ancient lab, weapons cache, whatever the Tok’ra were convinced was here on this planet Heru’ur’s new queen decided to drop a Ha’tak onto the surface. Presumably chasing after the same rumors of Ancient technology that the Tok’ra were.

“Dammit Selmac, if you and Jacob knew that about Amaunet shacking up with Heru’ur after we removed Apophis from the game you and I are going to be having words,” Jack growled under his breath; casting a weather eye on Daniel. Taking in the pinched line of his brow, the tight lines near his eyes partially obscured and also amplified by the man’s glasses, and the white knuckled grip he had on his pistol. Oh yeah there was going to be a hell of a fallout from having to leave Shar’re in Amaunet’s snakey clutches yet again. _Come on Danny hold it together a just a little longer. We know where she is and who Amaunet’s shacked up with, we can get her back._ Right now they just had to make it to the gate before their check in window passed and their GDO’s were lockout.

“Sir?” The quiet question had him glancing at Sam and the tension he saw on her face told him that she had heard his little outburst and echoed the sentiment. Yeah someone was going to be ripping Selmac a new one. _Dammit how many times do we have to tell the Tok’ra that they need to share all the information about a mission and planet, not just what they deem pertinent._ He knew General Jacob Carter knew just how much incomplete information regarding a mission could get your people killed. Maybe it was time to remind him of that.

Slowing down a bit in order to listen for the sounds of pursuit Jack narrowly avoided twisting his ankle on a tree root when he heard not the sounds of crashing underbrush and pursuers behind them but noise ahead of them that he would swear was the sound of battle. Slowing, lungs burning from their cat and mouse race through the forest, he paused to listen. Sure enough that was the sound of metal clashing on metal and what sounded like a gutteral shout. It was definitely coming the direction of the stargate.

“Tal Mak my ass.” he hissed as he drew to a stop. It definitely seemed as though the Jaffa had gone for plan B and decided that laying in wait for them at the stargate was a better option than chasing them through densely packed forest. He heard the crunching of leaves as the rest of his team drew to a confused halt.

“Jack?” Daniel’s hoarse voice shook with suppressed emotion. Turning around to face Sam, Daniel, and Teal’c all of whom were wearing various shades of puzzled expressions as to why he had stopped.

“Sounds like someone surprised our welcome committee. Funny how our Tok’ra buddies neglected to mention that this planet isn’t as uninhabited as they led us to believe,” Jack explained, “Look alive people. Proceed with caution and let’s hope the natives don’t mistake us for enemies.” His team exchanged looks and started creeping forward, they had roughly an hour and a half until their check in window passed and their dial-in codes would be backlisted. However nothing could have prepared them for the sight that met them as they cleared the tree line into the Stargate clearing.

Silhouetted against the rising moonlight a single figure faced off against four Jaffa. A four foot long (at least) tail lashed like a banner in high winds, head crowned with large ram’s horns held high in defiance, as two swords wove in deadly arcs, the part of Jack’s brain that had been raised Irish Catholic screamed demon. Oh yeah Murphy just loved to fuck with them.

_So much for friendly natives_ , he thought exchanging a wary glance with Sam and Teal’c. He could already hear Danny muttering under his breath, barely catching the words “maybe related to the Cossack…” Well there would be no help from that quarter but at least the grim silent focus that he had been displaying since Amaunet’s surprise landing was being buried under anthropological curiosity and glee. Thank god for small mercies. It looked as though the, for lack of a better word, demon was holding its own against the Jaffa. However, his team was running out of time before they got locked out. Time to hope that that they didn’t have to fight a demon to get home, because he was pretty sure that none of them were holy enough to perform an exorcism. Except maybe Danny, who knows what weird things he knew from his anthropology studies. A small strangled noise from Daniel drew his attention away from the spectacle playing itself out in front of the stargate. That grim expression was creeping it’s way back onto Daniel’s face as he turned towards Jack.

“Jack, there’s kids on that platform, I think it’s trying to protect them.” He said and sure enough when Jack looked beyond the two crumpled Jaffa bodies (well it was certainly deadly enough to take out Jaffa with only swords possibly a Zat if the plasma blasts were anything to go by) were two small figures huddling together. Sudden gut wrenching fear seized his throat as his brain transposed Charlie’s face onto those two small forms.

“Change of plans people, try to give our demonic friend some breathing room. Fire away from the platform, try to draw the Jaffa our way. The stakes just got higher,” He barked out as he brought up his P90 and flicked off the safety. He heard Sam do the same thing and saw Teal’c bring up his staff weapon out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t need to see Danny to know he held the old pistol in a low ready guard.

Taking aim at the Jaffa farthest from the platform that was just bringing his staff weapon up to fire at the demonic alien, Jack shouted “Lucy I’m home,” as he squeezed the trigger. The shots went wide as planned just enough to draw the attention of the two farthest Jaffa. He heard the low rumble of Teal’c’s voice saying “Your name is still not Lucy.”

“Yeah, but they don’t know that.” he quipped back the clawing desperation that had begun its stranglehold on Jack’s throat began to ease as SG-1 drew the Jaffa away from the gate platform. Only to have it clamp down with a vengence when one of the two Jaffa still fighting managed to get a lucky staff strike on their hellish friend’s side. As close as his team had started advancing they could all see the glitter of what looked like frost rime crawl and spread up the staff to the Jaffa’s hands causing him to drop the weapon. The vicious guttural, rasping response the biblical nightmare gave in response tore at Jack’s eardrums and felt like it was trying to claw it’s way inside his brain. Yeah Jack was pretty sure he owed his childhood priest an apology for doubting that demons existed. 

Attention pulled in two directions the Jaffa were cut down pretty fast. Jack swore that for a moment it looked like a glimmering barrier was dissipating over the kids. Quick as a blink as soon as the shimmer disappeared, he watched one of the kids bolt towards their demonic protector. Tensing Jack carefully took aim for a head shot if things went south and “Little Nicky” turned out to not be as kid friendly as previously assumed. His team was approximately twenty five feet from platform at this point and they had approximately a little less than an hour left before their GDOs would be locked out. To his surprise their fighter dropped to his knees, swords set carefully at his sides, and caught the child up in a worried hug. They were close enough to make out that fighter was male but not close enough to understand the low lilting murmuring so very unlike the the rasping, hissing language that had struck an instinctive type of terror in Jack’s bones. Oh boy at least two different languages, hopefully that would put Danny in linguistics heaven and focus his attention away from the fact that they were leaving his wife behind yet again. They got within ten feet from the edge of the platform when the second child spoke in yet another language that sounded vaguely Slavic. If you could call a language “vaguely Slavic” when it sounded like someone had taken Russian mashed it together with what might be French or some other language and then spoke it backwards. The effect was immediate with “Nicky” tensing and grabbing the sword closest to the hand not holding the kid and turning to meet them teeth bared in a snarl.

“Danny you’re up.” Jack muttered, trying not to show how shaken he was by the flat red slightly glowing eyes missing both pupil and sclera coupled with obviously sharp fangs. Mentally crossing his fingers that the Daniel Jackson specialty of talking alien beings and altered humans alike out of killing them worked on beings straight out of Paradise Lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those not familiar with Stargate SG-1 GDO stands for "Garage Door Opener" a device which sends a particular code through the Stargate to identify the people coming through so that the SGC can open the Iris, a shield that closes over the portal of the Stargate when it's activated, in time for them to step through the gate without being splattered like bugs against a windshield. Standard procedure is each team is given a GDO and a check in time, depending on the mission the check in time may vary, if the team misses their check-in time then Stargate Command is forced to assume that the team has been compromised and will no longer open the iris for that code.


	3. I See the Voice of Rage and Ruin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daniel Jackson adds 2 and 2 together using logical reasoning and comes to an answer of fish. Otherwise known as context clues lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally supposed to be part of the previous chapter however it didn't quite fit Jack's point of view and Daniel spent far too much time geeking out over implications and Molly wasn't cooperating. Apologies for Google translate German, any inconsistencies I am waiving on grounds that this is Wildemount Zemnian and not Earth German. Warnings for shades of Caleb's backstory.

“Danny you’re up.” Jack’s comment startles him out of the shock that he have been processing. Too many revelations and upheavals in too short of a time and not enough time to process them had slowed his mind. _Oh right, they need me to be their diplomat, negotiator, and linguist/anthropologist/whatever non-military/scientific academic subject matter expert. Whether or not it was actually part of my job description._ That was an uncharitable thought and also uncalled for, but dammit that was his wife back there. Trapped in her own mind as that damn parasite committed atrocities and violated her body while wearing her face and they were about to leave her behind yet again. The mere thought of doing that sent pangs through his chest. Suppressing a bitter snort he squared his shoulders, at least the being he was going to be talking their way past wasn’t a Goa’uld.

“ _My name is Daniel Jackson and this is my team. We fight against the false gods and mean no harm to you and yours._ ” He said in carefully accented Goa’uld. He hadn’t realized how much he relied on someone’s eyes to know how his message was received until he was faced with someone who didn’t have visible pupils or irises. There didn’t seem to be any recognition of the words but he couldn’t be sure. The longer the fighter went without replying a sickening thought came to mind. If this planet was considered Tal Mak by the System Lords and Tok’ra alike then these people may have never heard Goa’uld or Abydonian at all. Which now that he thought about it the dark skinned child with pale hair had spoken a language that Daniel hadn’t immediately been able to identify the base language it had drifted from. This could be bad if the linguistic drift was that drastic then they would be a huge disadvantage. _I’ve gotten lazy, the gate speech phenomenon made things too easy._ The jingling of metal drew his attention away from his uneasy introspection, and he noticed for the first time as the alien cocked his head that his horns were pierced, studded, cuffed, and strung with jewelry all glinting in the moonlight. Now that he looked closer Daniel thought he could make out darker patterns of skin that might indicate tattoos.

“Now I have no idea what you just said, but at least two of you speak common, so let’s lead that, hmm?” The light lilting vaguely Irish accent was laced with just enough of threat to make him uneasy but also had him taking his glasses off and rubbing them on his shirt more out of shock than any other reason. _That was English, honest to God English with an accent no less._ Which implied that this individual spoke multiple languages. Except, Daniel remembered, that he did, the rasping hissing language from before, which wouldn’t account for the near accent. So that meant he had to be tri-lingual. This, combined with the language the child had spoken implied that the original inhabitants and transplanted humans, (because at least one individual of the trio was clearly human and he wasn’t able to rule out altered human for the other child) had drifted far enough from the stargate for the languages to drift drastically apart; but still kept in close enough contact, through trade possibly, that individuals made a point to learn the other group’s languages. Oh, he wished desperately that they had more time to study this civilization. At least it seemed that they had ranged far enough from the stargate that the Goa’uld thought them extinct. Something about that though however rang false but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why.

“Hurry it up, Daniel. We’re running out of time and more Jaffa could be coming any minute.” Jack’s impatient order dumped a bucket of ice water down his spine startling him out of the academic spiral of the anthropological possibilities this trio presented. Of course, how could he forget, Amaunet was here and looking for them and they were running away taking their best chance at rescuing Shar’re with it.

“You speak English?” he asked tongue tripping over the words, academic curiosity warring with resentment for dominance. Though as his brain finally processed that this individual had referred to the language as common academic curiosity began winning out.

“Yes?” The response was just as confused as Daniel’s question had been, the fighter’s head still slightly tilted in askance but at least the sword started to lower from the guard position, though the arm wrapped around the small pale child tucked against his chest still hadn’t relaxed. It was at that moment that the child asked in a high trembling voice, clearly on the edge of panic, “ _Wo sin wir? Wo sind unsere freunde?_ ”

That was German, softer, less gutteral, and a slightly odder syntax than any German spoken on Earth but close enough that Daniel was able to mentally translate “Where are we? Where are our friends?”

_Dammit so much for the Goa’uld not finding out about these people._ _Especially if they had already lost friends to them._ The fighter coaxed the child’s face up so that they could look them in the eye before responding gently, “Common, Mr.Caleb. I don’t speak Zemnian, care to repeat that for me, darling?”

_Zemnian? That’s implying that they have separate autonomous countries!_ Excitement finally won out over lingering resentment, everything was implying that this might not have been a System Lord planet at any point at all. The rustling of cloth and a flash of blond silvered in the moonlight out of the corner of his eye told him that Sam had moved up next to him. He wondered what face she was wearing now, Sam Carter his friend or Major Samantha Carter the United States Air Force Officer and SG-1’s second in command. However her appearance shot any chance they had of a fast and easy resolution right to hell. As the child, Caleb, caught sight of her blanched dead white and screamed.

“ _Nein! Nein! Sie wird dich töten! Essek nimm Mollymauk und verschwinde hier! Astrid, bitte lass uns gehen! Tu ihnen nicht weh, ich werde leise kommen. Tu ihnen bitte nichts._ ” The bottom dropped out of his stomach when his mind finished translating the terrified German. “No! No! She will kill you! Essek take Mollymauk and get out of here! Astrid, please let us go! Don’t hurt them, I will come quietly. Don’t hurt them please.” _God no child should be so insistent on sacrificing themself in order to make sure their friends can get away._ Though that did answer one question Essek must be the fighter’s name and Mollymauk the other child’s.

He could feel Jack’s eyes burrowing into the side of his skull and see Sam’s confusion and dismay written across her face as she waited for him to translate or ask what had set the child off about her. _Sorry Sam not here, I won’t translate that here._ He shook his slightly mouthing “later”. The look she shot him promised that there would be hell to pay if he didn’t translate and tell her why the child was terrified of her. Unfortunately Jack wasn’t able to see this quiet exchange.

“Daniel,” His growl was pure authoritative rage; kids in pain or terror shot his control all to hell and this situation had ran over that trigger with a tank. _Not helping Jack!_ He thought running through every possible way he could salvage this situation as Essek’s sword that had been gradually lowering snapped back up into a guard position as the other arm crushed the struggling panicking child to his chest. For a brief second Daniel could have sworn that the blade flickered with blue green light.

“Not now Jack.” He whispered out of the corner of his mouth. As he took in the narrowed red gaze (made all the more terrifying by liquid red from lid to lid in absentia of sclera, pupil, and iris), lips pulling back in an impressive snarl, and the lashing tail, he wondered if there was some way to diffuse the building confrontation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up will be Molly's point of view.


	4. Hope is a Four Letter Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unpleasant revelations and Mollymauk starts putting two and two together regarding Caleb's backstory and predictably ends up with an answer of fish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left me such wonderful comments. They really made it easier to write this chapter. I work full time so I primarily write on weekends and the fact that this chapter was relatively easy for me write so I could post it sooner made me really happy.

_Right fuck this, don’t trust shady not there voices, because these people are not friends._ He could feel Caleb’s heart fluttering frantically as he struggled against Molly’s grip. If Caleb was reacting like that to these people then they were most definitely not friendly. Tightening his grip on his sword Molly snapped it back up into guard position and started pulling on that strange power letting it bleed into the blade; holding it just enough to cause the edge to shimmer with green blue flickers. A threat and a defense primed to go off with a flick of the blade. Gods he was tired and the thought of getting in one more fight made his bones ache, but if he had to he would. Molly knew how most humans reacted when faced with a furious Tiefling and he hoped that it held true here. He could feel his tail lashing angrily behind him, though he had enough presence of mind to avoid hitting the Drow. Ornna had likened getting hit with it like being hit with a bull whip, and he didn’t want to hurt the kid.

“Now you’re going to tell me where your friends took the rest of my family and the kids and I will be leaving. If you try to warn the rest of the Iron Shepherds that we’re coming I will personally hunt you down and make you wish you were dead, understand?” He let the rough rasping overtones of Infernal bleed into his words. Molly decided to wait and save his devil’s tongue gifts for later. Something was telling him that he didn’t want these people knowing just what he was able to do, at least not yet. _Game point, now will you play ignorant or are you going to attack, hmm?_

Tall, greying, and “I’m clearly in charge” (Jack if Molly had heard correctly) was clearly getting antsy; if there was going to be any trouble it would come from that direction. If he had to guess the woman was next in charge and the last two might be willing participants, well “Danny” might be. He would lay even money on tall, dark, and silent being a slave. Most people didn’t go in for forehead brands willingly, though the fact that he was carrying one of those strange not magic staves muddied the waters a bit. He bet Beau would just love having one of those staves. He didn’t dare take his eyes off of these people for a minute.

Caleb had stopped fighting him and was pressing closer into his chest, at this point Molly wished he had at least stood up when these assholes had approached instead of staying crouched, but comforting Caleb had seemed more important. He didn’t need to look down to know that the wizard had turned his head so that he had a clear line of sight and one hand angled at the group in front of them. Molly could also feel the tell tale prickling sensation of static that heralded Caleb’s casting along with the slight increase in temperature warning him of what the wizard was about to do. As much as Mollymauk wanted to burn the potential threat to the ground, they couldn’t afford for Caleb to have one of his episodes nor could they afford to miss an opportunity to get information on where the rest of the Mighty Nein were. Squeezing Caleb’s shoulder just tight enough to be both reassuring and a warning, he felt the temperature drop and the static subside. Inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief though he was careful not to show it on his face.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding. It sounded like Caleb, was it, mistook Sam for someone else.” The one called Danny placated. _Misunderstanding, right. Wait, is he saying he understood what Caleb said._

“You speak Zemnian.” Molly growled. How utterly convenient, a little too pat to be coincidence. At least in his opinion. The reedy bespectacled man nervously polished his glasses before replying.

“I speak German, it’s close enough to Zemnian that I’m able to understand the gist of what he said. He seemed to think that she was someone named Astrid.” _Astrid, the woman Jester was convinced was Caleb’s one true love? The woman he had mistaken her for when he was absolutely tankered in Hupperdook? If she was mixed up with the Iron Shepherds no wonder Caleb was so rattled._ Though he knew how bad Caleb’s eyesight was at night and while the moonlight helped it certainly wasn’t bright enough for him to see clearly.

“So you’re claiming that this is all a case of mistaken identity, that you have nothing to do with the rat bastard slavers that call themselves the Iron Shepherds. Right suppose I believe you, that still doesn’t explain how we ended up so far from Glory Run Road and Shady Creek Run.” There was no recognition of the names, that and the indignant squawk at the word slavers was a point in their favor of this being a misunderstanding. The fact that they hadn’t immediately screamed “Drow” when they had caught sight of the other kid also made him think that something wasn’t adding up to his initial impression. However, that point could also be attributed to the fact that human night vision was terrible, though Molly wasn’t sure how they could mistake coal dark skin, pointed ears, and bright white hair for anything else. They were certainly getting antsy the longer this standoff went on. Tall, grey, and grumpy was checking his wrist periodically almost as if…well Molly had seen clockwork time keepers before. Ones small enough to fit on a person’s wrist would be obscenely expensive, but one would assume that the slave trade would be ridiculously lucrative for the utterly unscrupulous. Point against this being a case of mistaken identity and it would also seem that they were in a hurry.

“In a rush are we?” Molly asked allowing just a hint of a threat to enter his voice after they failed to answer in a timely manner. The barely there flinches confirmed his theory, seems like he hit a nerve. Right, so he could continue to back them into a corner as they got more and more desperate as they tried to meet whatever deadline was ticking closer or he could take a risk and possibly endanger them all by believing their shady excuse. _Fuck, if it were just me, I wouldn’t have any issues taking the risk. But it isn’t just me, I have Caleb and the other kid to think about as well._ He wasn’t sure what to do. He was in a disadvantaged position, and only had the element of surprise on his side because they didn’t seem to aware of what he could do, nor what Caleb was capable of. Trust them or continue pushing them into a corner.

_Trust them, pet._ Molly barely avoided making a face at the return of the voice. _Right, like shady not there voices are trustworthy reasons to make a decision,_ he thought back unconsciously tightening his grip on Caleb. A subtle attempt to reassure himself that part of his family was still within his grasp. _Remember you asked for this, Pet._ Yes, he had asked for this. He didn’t regret it and doubted that he could ever regret the chance to save his family. Didn’t mean that the running commentary wasn’t annoying as hell. If he pressed any further he couldn't guarantee the kids’ safety and things would get ugly. Time to switch tactics.

“Right, so now that we’ve established that this was all huge misunderstanding and your disgusted reaction at the mere thought of being mistaken for slavers has me convinced. Care to do proper introductions? I’ll even start just for sincerity’s sake. My name is Mollymauk Tealeaf, Molly to my friends. I do hope you’ll forgive me if I continue to hold out judgement on whether you’re friends or not,” He tried to inject as much cheer and charm into his voice, however brittle it maybe. Slipping on his carnival barker persona as easily as he did his coat. He lowered and sheathed his sword in a show of trust and slowed his tail from its furious lashing to a milder discontented twitch; not that he worried much about them being able to read Tiefling body language, most humans couldn’t, Caleb was possibly one of the few exceptions. His sudden change in demeanor threw them off, he could see it in their suddenly unsure postures and the slight uneasiness to their expressions. Good if they were off balance they didn’t have time to think. Same as selling the con; talk fast, baffle them with bullshit, don’t give them time to think, and above all make them want to believe it. Talk fast enough and they just might get out of here alive. Curiously enough a deep look of confusion passed over Danny’s face, when he said his name as if he had expected something different. Molly’s heart sank.

“Your name isn’t Essek?” He asked, the look on his face clearly stating that the glasses wearing man had missed something.

“Umm, no? Why would you think that?” _What a strange question to ask, who the hell was Essek?_ Molly supposed it was better than being called or recognized as Lucien but really how many other names had that fucker had anyway.

“Sorry, it’s not that I doubt you, but earlier Caleb said ‘Essek take Mollymauk and get out of here’ I thought he was telling you to take the other child and go. It makes more sense, if you’re Mollymauk then I’m guessing the other child is Essek. Why would he be asking another child to take an adult flee, instead of the other way around?” Suspicion weighed heavily in the man’s voice.

“Yeah our escape from the Iron Shepherds is a little hazy for me. I got taken out of the fight early on and was rather unconscious for most of it. I’m assuming the rest of our friends covered our retreat and were separated or captured before they could join us. I woke up on the platform with Caleb and his new friend dragging me on what I’m guessing was whatever clothing items that they managed to grab in our escape. Just in time for those fighters to ambush us. I’m guessing Caleb was just trying to keep protecting me” Molly lied through his teeth hoping that it was convincing after all he couldn’t be sure that wasn’t what had happened. He could clearly see that they weren’t entirely convinced of the story, time to talk faster, “Now I’ve kindly introduced myself, would you care to reciprocate this time in a language I actually understand.”

“Ah, yes. I’m Dr. Daniel Jackson, the woman that Caleb mistook for Astrid is Major Samantha Carter, to my left is Colonel Jack O’Niell and behind me is the warrior Teal’c. We need to use the Stargate to return home. Will you let us pass?” The introduction was awkward and tense, the situation balancing on a knife blade any wrong move could send it spiraling out of control. A sudden feeling of vast cold emptiness and vast pressure bloomed along the skin of his back. _Dammit, Caleb would find the one non-empire aligned magic user in the Iron Shepherd’s grasp and latch onto them._ Mollymauk began to get an idea of just how Caleb had escaped and why he had asked this Essek to get him out of here. Whipping his tail out curl around the Drow, he dragged them closer in an attempt to prevent whatever spell the child was about to cast. The pressure stopped; however, he ended up having to grit his teeth as sharp fingernails dug painfully into his tail. _Ow, that hurts you little fucker. Tails are sensitive how would you like it if I dug my nails into the tips of your pointy ears you brat._ Okay that was uncalled for the kid had to be terrified, but it still hurt like hell. _Wait a minute, he only freaked out when they mentioned military rank…fuck._

“A colonel and a major? Well don’t I feel special, however I’m going to have to ask what country given you certainly don’t look like you belong to the Righteous Brand. I could be wrong but I don’t think I am. I can safely rule out Xhorhassian as you’re all human. So Tal’Dorei then? Emon? I can’t think you’re Marquesian, not nearly dressed fancy enough I should think.” Molly made sure that his tone was all but shouting that he thought their claimed rank was bullshit. He had felt Caleb try to burrow deeper into his chest at the mention of military and a disheartening picture began to put itself together regarding his wizard’s past. It fit he was afraid of fire, he desperately tried not to be noticed by anyone with any authority, and he believed in second starts. Deserters were hunted down ruthlessly and he imagined it would be doubly so for war mages. At least with Caleb currently a little kid if these people were looking deserters from the army they wouldn’t suspect him of being one.

Hopefully one of these people would take the bait and give him some clue about where the hell they were and how far they had traveled. _Just give me something useful please._

“Yeah, you’re not going to recognize it since we’re not from around here. You could say we’re from a galaxy far, far away and we would really like to get back to our galaxy far, far away.” Tall, greying, and grumpy (Jack) replied sounding exactly like Beau at her most irritating. Gods did that hurt something fierce and also piss him off in equal measure.

“Really pull the other one, I’ve told more convincing lies when I was two years old.” It probably wasn’t a good idea to piss them off when he was trying to talk his way out of this situation but at this point it was reflex to snark back at that tone. Too many days arguing with Beau just for the sake of mutual irritation.

“Wait a moment, you’ve never of the stargate or heard the term Chappa’ai?” Something about the tone of Daniel’s question caught Mollymauk attention, drawing him away from his stare down with colonel crankypants. Great now his subconscious was channeling Jester.

“Stargate? Never heard of it. Have you Caleb?” he asked glancing down at the small face of his family’s wizard. Caleb began to shake his head slowly then stopped eyes suddenly widening in something close to excitement.

“A teleportation circle?” He said slowly in much stronger accented common than usual, face scrunched up in concentration. Well it seemed that Caleb could at least understand common and still speak it to some extent. Which was good because when it came to magic it went right over Molly’s head.

“A teleportation circle, hmm, any chance you fine upstanding people could help us get back to where we ought to be?” _Time to turn on the charm, Tealeaf._ He almost mentioned that Essek probably had family missing him in Xhorhas but if he were wrong and these people were in fact part of the Righteous Brand then he would have just sealed the kid’s death warrant.

“Yeah about that, the stargate doesn’t work like that if you wanted to go to another planet that could be arranged, _after_ my team and I dial home.” Jack hissed all but vibrating with irritation and tension. _Another planet?_ _What did he mean by that?_ Moonweaver preserve him this was going nowhere and he needed guidance badly. He looked up, the way he always did for reassurance that the Moonweaver’s dual faces still shown down on him, only to see a single moon far too pale and far away hanging among alien constellations.

_Oh… star..gate…as in not in Wildemount anymore. Not in Exandria anymore._ Panic threatened to engulf him as he realized just how far from home they were, just how far away his family might be. His vision began crumbling black at the edges.

“Mr. Caleb, did we go through the creepy stone ring behind us?” He asked weakly, heart sinking as Caleb nodded solemnly. _Right, Okay, this is fixable._

“I don’t suppose you know how to use said creepy ring.” A thin thread of hope that Caleb’s knowledge of magic extended to creepy world teleportation rings holding the crumbling edges at bay.

“Nein,” Caleb’s denial and subsequent flinch like he expected to be yelled at for his failing made the bottom drop out of his stomach. He turned desperately to Essek, hoping that the other wizard might have the knowledge his wizard didn’t.

“I don’t suppose you know either?” He asked weakly, praying that the answer was yes. However the response was not in any language he could understand. _Undercommon, Drow, Xhorhassian…right, why would they speak common. Just my luck, I have no idea if they even understood me._ All the fight had gone out of him at this point.

“You didn’t know?” He wasn’t sure who asked though he suspected it might be the blond woman, Samantha. Molly wasn’t able to discern much past the roaring in his ears.

“Like I said, I was rather unconscious at the time. For a second there I thought I was dead.” His voice sounded far away almost as if he was submerged in water.

“Sir, I think he might be going into shock.” That was Samantha again, watery and distorted. He was lightheaded and the crumbling sensation at the corners of his vision surged forward as his eyesight dimmed. He could feel himself swaying in place.

“Nein! Bleib zurück!” _Caleb, that was Caleb, who was panicking and whose first instinct was to burn threats to the ground and ask questions never._ Fighting his way back from the yawning chasm of darkness threatening to engulf him, Mollymauk felt that tell tale static and temperature increase again.

“Caleb, stop. I’m all right. We’re all right.” He knew he sounded unconvincing, but these people were their only way home right now and they couldn’t afford to lose that chance. Once his eyes refocused and his vision stopped greying out Molly looked down into Caleb’s glaring face. Gods the kid version of Caleb could still glare with the best of them, though it was rather cuter than probably intended. Disbelief etched itself in Caleb’s tiny frame and exchanged a brief glance with this Essek and nodded ever so slightly. Molly was sure that to anyone without darkvision wouldn’t have seen it. _Right, tiny wizards making back up plans without speaking, gods, how long had all of us been held captive before we escaped?_

“Sir, we can’t leave them here. He’s injured and there are two children involved. We can attempt to figure out just where they’re from back at base. We have more resources and given that we haven’t even made it a quarter of the way through the gate coordinates from the Abydonian DHD room yet, there’s a good possibility that it might be one of them.” Samantha cajoled as if she already knew that it was a foregone conclusion that her commanding officer would agree and she was just giving him a logical reason to say yes. Even Mollymauk could see Grumpy wavering. Oh he knew this Jack could care less if they left him here, but there was no way in the nine hells was that man prepared to leave two little kids in danger.

“Fine but you get to explain to General Hammond how we managed to find and bring home strays on a planet that our Tok’ra buddies swore up and down wasn’t supposed to have sentient life on it.” The sour answer was a relief though he could feel the return of sharp fingernails digging into his tail. First opportunity he got, he was cutting those nails.

“Oh don’t worry Jack, I’ve got an idea what happened and I think that the General will be very interested in it,” Daniel replied, “Sam if you could start dialing home? The three of you should step clear of the platform, please.”

Molly curled his tail closer as he stood up forcing Essek against his free side leaving enough room, after transfering Caleb to his free arm, to do a practiced stomp and flick of his right foot launching his remaining sword into the air where he could catch it and re-sheathe it in one easy motion. He also leaned down scooping the pile of clothing and Caleb’s book holsters into the arm not keeping a hand on his wizard’s back. Both children were clinging to his coat. He hobbled closer to the group keeping a wary eye on them in case they caught a case of hostilities when they caught a better glance at the Drow. However the only unusual behavior was Jack tying what looked like a handkerchief to one of the discarded staves.

“You’re gonna want to stand a little farther back.” The man snarked at the same time that he heard the grinding of what sounded like stone on stone. He turned and saw the inner ring of the stargate rotating. _Right backing up, backing up was good._

“Cheveron one encoding,” Samantha’s voice was clear and calm. All of a sudden one of the nine keystones along the ring clamped down and glowed orangish red. “Chevron one locked, Chevron two encoding.”

Molly watched as this repeated until the last key stone was the only one left unlit. “Chevron nine encoding, Chevron nine locked.” The world suddenly went blue. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will have perspectives from two characters, hopefully it won't be too confusing. Also because I forgot the german in this chapter roughly translates to "No! Stay back!"


	5. You can Choose from Phantom Fears or Kindness That can Kill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dr. Janet Fraiser true to current pattern proves that she is also bad at contextual math and threatens Colonel O'Neill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I lied, this chapter is only from Janet's point of view because this chapter got out of hand and ended up being longer than expected and I had to split it into two. Also Molly of all the lies that you could have come up with you just had to go with that one.

“Offworld activation. All personnel stand by.” The announcement echoed over the comms as the gate activation alarm started to scream its warning. Major Doctor Janet Fraiser hurried to the elevator that would take her down to the gate room. _Please be SG-1, I don’t want to have to tell Cassie that her Aunt Sam, Uncle Jack, and Uncle “Murray” weren’t ever coming back._ She prayed, they were within ten minutes of missing their window, as the elevator doors opened onto the chaos that was the gate room floor. Security forces surrounded the stargate ramp armed, armored, and waiting.

“Chevron nine encoding, Chevron nine locked.” The countdown ended and the gate’s event horizon exploded outwards in a fountain of watery blue. She glanced up at the observation window overlooking the gate room in General Hammond’s office and saw his tense figure watching the proceedings, she wasn’t the only one concerned about SG-1’s continued absence. She was almost willing to bet that ninety percent of that tenseness had to do with their guests currently cooling their heels in one of the guest quarters. The order to close the Iris blared across the comms seconds before the Iris’ twenty interlocking titanium plates slammed shut preventing anything from coming through. There was a tense silence as everyone waited with baited breath for an identification signal to come through.

“Signal coming through sir, it’s SG-1,” the airman’s confirmation sent waves of relief through her, they had made it back. She glanced back up at General Hammond waiting for the command, “Open the Iris, welcome home SG-1.”

As soon as they came through she was prepared to wrestle them all into medical for standard post mission exams. Whatever trouble they had found that had waylaid them she hoped that it wasn’t too bad. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of some their past post mission complications. Janet was almost positive that she would need to threaten Colonel O’Neill with the cold probes in order to get the man to sit still long enough to get treated for whatever injuries they may have picked up. However something didn’t seem to be right, three minutes had passed since the signal came through and the Iris was opened and the team still hadn’t come through. Suddenly a staff weapon came clattering through the gate to roll down the ramp, a white handkerchief tied to it. The sign for _Bringing friendlies through gate don’t shoot, medical attention required_.

“All right positions people, don’t shoot let’s see what trouble Colonel O’Neill decided to drop in my lap today.” General Hammond’s order echoed over the continued screaming of the alarm. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the team started coming through, looking relatively unhurt and healthy. Nobody was bleeding out, there weren’t any obvious wounds so why the warning? Finally the last three figures stumbled through and the reason for the warning became very clear. As she heard the airmen around her inhale sharply and tense. _Hold your fire indeed_ , she almost missed the two smaller forms clinging to the ridiculously bright panoply of riotous color that resolved itself into a heavily tattooed pastel purple man with dark grey purple hair and pierced ram’s horns. For a brief second she felt a flash of unease rush through her an instinctive flinch that said run away from the predator staring you down. However, she could see from her position at the end of the gate ramp that their shirt was stained with blood in different places. That was all it took to kick her brain into medical assessment, looking past the lavender skin, the frightening red eyes and sharp teeth, this was a patient bringing two small potential patients as well. Both of whom were much smaller than Cassie had been. Silently she prayed that this wasn’t going to turn out to be another threshold situation the way Cassie’s arrival had been.

“Medical now! You too Colonel, you can make your report _after_ everyone gets checked out.” She snapped out, eyeballing Colonel O’Neill trying to subtly sneak away before she noticed.

“Really doc, do we have to go through the penlight of doom?” The man bitched half heartedly, more for show than anything else, as he started to lead the group through towards the elevator.

“Just for that, you get to go first and I’m using the cold probes sir.” She shot back the familiar banter a balm to her nerves. However as soon as her immediate patient started off the gate ramp one of the Security Forces members standing by cried “Halt.”

Turning back she noticed that they had brought up their weapons, safeties hadn’t been flicked off at least not yet. “Sir? I’m going to need you to hand over your weapons and whatever it is you’re carrying. F-for security reasons.”

The technical sergeant’s voice wavered under the force of the man’s terrifying glare. Janet refused to dehumanize the man simply because he looked like something terrifying out of folklore, not if she was to be able to treat him fairly and unbiasedly as a patient. _Above all else do no harm_ , she reminded herself even as those flat crimson eyes seemed to stare through them. For the first time she noticed the swords hanging at his side, she had been more preoccupied with the visible wounds that she could see soaking through his shirt that she had failed to notice them partially obscured by his coat. The blades were naked and she noted disapprovingly far too close to a small red haired child who was pulling a panel of the embroidered coat around them, hiding from the room. She was going to have to tread carefully if what she was beginning to suspect was true.

“Security reasons? This is beginning to sound as if you mean to take us prisoner.” The near growl in these words hitting a very primal fear response. Her monkey brain screaming that this was a predator and she needed to be as far away from it as possible. A quick glance over her shoulder at SG-1 revealed that they were in the same state, even Teal’c was looking a little ruffled. However the thunderous irritation blooming across Jack’s face told Janet that no help would be coming from that quarter. _Lord save me, why do I have to be the adult in this situation?_

“It’s standard procedure, no weapons outside of the gate room unless you’re security forces. We’ve had too many close calls with supposed allies that turned out not to be what they were presenting themselves as. I hope you can understand our precaution.” She tried to keep her voice as soothing as possible. A twitch of lavender from behind the glaring being caught her eye, had they missed a person? No that was a tail beginning to twitch in manner very similar to an angry cat’s. The glare didn’t abate nor did the tenseness in the man’s posture.

“And I hope you can understand how this sounds to us. We’ve just escaped from slavers, been dragged through two magical gates, we’re far from home, and at the mercy of unknown people. Who now seem to be trying to separate us from any means of protecting ourselves. Do you think that you’ve earned that magnitude of trust?” A dark lilting thread of threat entering their guest’s voice, each word punctuated by an angry flick of his tail. Great they were asking people who had, had their sense of safety and autonomy stripped from them recently and were asking them to give up their hard won sense of protection and trust armed strangers with their safety. She could feel a migraine starting to creep up on her. Really SG-1 always brought back the nicest surprises.

“You’ll get your personal effects back just as soon as we’ve made sure that you haven’t brought anything with you that could be a threat to our people.” It seemed that Tech Sergeant Jones had finally found his voice at entirely the wrong time. She could see that they were getting agitated. The one child that she had caught a glimpse of wrapped the coat panel even tighter about themself and she just make out what looked like a small dark hand clenched in the fabric of the man’s leggings from behind his left leg hidden entirely by the coat.

“The longer we spend discussing this the more concerned for your health I am becoming. As a medical professional I am asking you to please cooperate with us so that I may treat your injuries. I am Doctor Janet Fraiser and I give you my word as a doctor that no harm will come to you while you are here.” She could see the waver in his stance and blood loss was becoming a major concern for her. At this rate she wasn’t sure they would make it back to the infirmary in time and they would need to get a stretcher. Holding her breath she waited hoping that she had convinced him to come with them before he collapsed. It was only because Janet was watching him so intently that she noticed the slight shimmer by the colorful being’s left shoulder almost like a heat mirage and the slight head tilt he made in its direction. She would have to remind Colonel O’Neill to double check the security footage of the gate room later for anything strange. Finally after several tense breaths their guest heaved a put upon sigh and put down the armful of cloth and leather; and very carefully removed the swords, handling them in such a manner so as not to be taken as threat. As soon as he started putting them down, quick as a flash the small red haired figure darted out from under the coat and grabbed a pile of leather straps that once dragged free of the cloth she could see were book holders of some kind. Hugging the harness and books to themself, the child made to go back under the safety of the colorful coat.

“I’m sorry the books have to stay as well.” The technical sergeant’s apologetic statement was met with a gut sinking feeling as her suspicions about the child were almost certainly confirmed with a meltdown. As soon as the child realized that they wouldn’t be allowed to take the books with them, they let out a loud wailing, “Nein! Nein! Nein!”

Small hands tightened on around the leather and books until even Janet could see their knuckles bleached white with the strain of the grip. The wince the kid’s caretaker gave spoke volumes to her; she would need a more qualified medical professional in the field of psychology to confirm the diagnosis though, and the only one currently available was one that she was rapidly losing faith in their professionalism. It would probably be best if she went ahead and acted as if the diagnosis had already been confirmed.

“I don’t suppose we could make an exception just this once? Those books are the only thing Caleb has left from his parents and he just got them back.” The agitated flicking tail was rapidly devolving into a frantic wag of distress. The hopeful note in the man’s voice echoed the tug of sympathy she felt even as she braced herself for what would come next.

“I’m afraid not,” Jones’ response was apologetic, “We’ll take extra care with them and try to clear those items first; but we can’t allow exceptions to policy. I’m sorry.”

Janet reflexively winced along with their guest as they bent down to gently extricate the books from the boy’s grip. She couldn’t hear what he was murmuring to Caleb but it clearly wasn’t as reassuring as he had hoped it would be. Not since he was still having to gently pry each finger open in order to get the boy to release them. He finally managed to get the harness free and went to put it back with the pile of cloth and the swords. As soon as he did so; however, Caleb dove for the pile and the harness again. Quick as a flash that tail whipped out catch the boy before he could grab it again, deftly fishing him out from the deep purple fabric of what appeared to be a fur lined coat and bringing him back to the man’s side.

Well wasn’t that handy, honestly Janet almost wished that she had a tail herself. Having an appendage that could act as an extra arm would be very useful.

“Those books better be in pristine condition when we get them back.” The gutteral, rasping overtones were back in the man’s voice as he growled at them from over the child’s head. The implied threat was in no way softened by the fact that he was leaning down to scoop the boy up to rest on his hip. He then proceeded to reach with his free hand slightly behind him to coax the other child out from behind him and up onto his other hip. For the first time Janet got a clear look at the second child, charcoal grey skin that seemed to have purple undertones, stark white hair, and long pointed ears. The child looked like a color inverted version of the elves in Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. Their eyes seemed to be squeezed tightly shut and the skin on their knuckles was pale grey where they had a death grip on the embroidered coat.

“All right shall we go? The sooner we get this over with the sooner I can calm them down.” His tone was exhausted. Janet didn’t want him carrying the children and putting strain on injuries that had yet to be treated. Especially with how she clearly see he was favoring his right side now with the added weight of the kids. He was exacerbating the risk of collapse via blood loss; however, this was a battle that she could clearly see she wasn’t going to win. She grimly led the motley group to elevators that would take them up to the infirmary.

“Thank you _so_ much, Colonel, for leaving me to handle that situation myself. A little help would have been much appreciated.” She hissed at O’Neill as she passed him. Really that whole situation should have been handled by him.

“Hey he already doesn’t like me or my team, we were hoping that maybe he’d respond better to you.” he replied and not for the first time today she wondered just what had happened on this mission.

“Just for that sir, you get to be my demonstration for the medical exam.” She said vindictive satisfaction blooming at his pained wince as they all loaded into the elevator. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will finish up Janet's point of view and we'll finally get to see what's going on from Essek and Caleb's perspective. Buckle up it's going to be a little rough.


	6. Tell Me Where it Hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which medical exams are had, Essek loses his temper, Caleb is traumatized, and traumatizes everyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kind comments I received on the last chapter without them this chapter would not have happened, because this chapter did not want to be written. I re-wrote it a grand total of four times and I'm still not completely happy with it. That being said please note that the tags have been updated. This chapter ended up much more massive than anticipated hopefully that makes up for the wait.

As everyone filed out of the elevator and through the double doors of the infirmary Janet breathed a sigh of relief. The tense silence had been suffocating and it would have taken a blind man to miss the implications of the way their guest had visibly steeled himself before getting into the elevator or the fact that he had wedged himself into the corner so that his back wasn’t exposed to any of them and he had a clear view of the doors. These were traumatized individuals and she was going to have to tread very carefully. Janet could see that even though they had left the elevator the man’s tail, which she would have thought would be whipping back and forth in agitation, was instead wrapping itself tightly around his left leg, the arrowhead tip seemingly trying to tuck itself into the top of his ridiculously tall boot. If his people’s body language were in any way similar to a cat’s or dog’s then that was a very bad sign. Add in the fact that neither child had made any attempt to look around at their surroundings; she would be lucky to get through their exams with only tears.

“Not so fast Colonel, you’re going to help me set up the ultrasound.” She barked out stopping Jack and the rest of SG-1 from heading towards the MRI. As far as pretenses for discussing their guests without them overhearing went it was a flimsy one; however, she needed more information if she was going to properly examine these people. Turning and heading for the back room she heard him fall into step beside her.

“So doc, what do you want to know that you didn’t want them overhearing?” He asked as soon as they stepped into the room. _What don’t I want to know? I’m going in almost blind with these people and I would have to be blind to miss the way Sam looks like someone gut punched her and the looks she keeps giving Caleb and Daniel._ However, that wasn’t what came out of her mouth; instead she asked, “How much eye contact has either child made since you met them? Unprompted, eye contact.”

A calculating look passed over Jack’s face as they began slowly wheeling the ultrasound machine into the other room. “Caleb, once maybe three times if you count panicked and frantic yelling at us unprompted eye contact. Though now that I think about it he wasn’t quite meeting our eyes. The other kid, the elfy looking one, might be named Essek, stared us down the whole time. At least until we came through the gate. Does this have anything to do with why we’re avoiding the MRI?”

He was sharp, she couldn’t deny that then again O’Neill was former black ops; he would have to be. So far the evidence was starting to stack up in favor of her gut theory. “It could just be trauma and a stressful situation, but I strongly suspect that Caleb has mild to high functioning autism. Hence the ultrasound instead of the MRI, hopefully it will be less traumatizing given that I’m going to have to do a full medical baseline for all of them.”

Jack shot a glance back over her shoulder at the group, following his gaze she saw that it seemed someone, most likely Daniel, had managed to convince them to sit down on one of the exam tables. Both children curled into the man’s sides. Glancing back at Jack she watched a complicated expression flit across his face, “You’re sure?”

“No, I’m not a qualified child psychologist and I can’t make a definitive diagnosis. I could be wrong but he’s displayed enough of the characteristics that I’d lay even odds that it’s a mixture of both trauma and autism. Enough so that I’m uncomfortable pushing his limits.” She admitted, carefully avoiding saying anything about her rapidly deteriorating faith in Colonel Mackenzie’s ethics. Their conversation cut off as they wheeled the machine into position. Janet turned to the trio on the exam table and realized that she hadn’t asked for their names. She had gotten both children’s names from context or other sources but she hadn’t asked for them from them. _Great, how are they supposed to trust that I will treat them humanely and ethically if I haven’t even given them the courtesy to introduce themselves. Well hopefully I haven’t done too much damage by waiting until now to ask._

“I apologize, I introduced myself earlier but failed to ask for your names, allow me to correct that oversight. I heard you mention Caleb’s name but what is yours and his or hers?” She wasn’t taking any chances, and she certainly wasn’t letting on that she possibly knew the other child’s name though she wasn’t certain to their sex.

“Mollymauk Tealeaf, Molly to my friends,” the response was brittle, clearly trying for cheerful and unaffected but falling short of the mark, “As you guessed he’s Caleb,” a jingling nod towards the red headed boy currently petting the embroidery on the man’s coat, “and I’m guessing this is Essek. I can’t be sure I don’t speak Undercommon.”

Which meant that Essek might not understand anything that was being said. This was not going to end well and as much as she wanted to demonstrate the procedures she would need to perform on them by checking over Jack first. She needed to treat the immediate patient first which meant addressing Mollymauk’s blood loss and injuries and then walking them through the post mission exam and take baseline vitals for them afterwards.

“Now I’m getting very concerned about the amount of injuries you seem to have sustained, would you please allow me to take a look at them?” She had to remind herself that this was someone who just recently got agency over their body back and from the injuries showing it was hard won at that; not, the airmen, soldiers, and marines that populated this facility whom she could order them to allow her to treat them and expect to be obeyed.

“It’s just a few scratches, nothing a good night’s rest won’t cure.” Mollymauk’s deflection was expected but frustrating none the less. Time to change tactics then.

“Be that as it may, I cannot allow you to leave here without at least checking them out to make sure they aren’t life threatening for my own peace of mind if nothing else.” She watched his posture slump slightly in defeat before it perked up full of deceptive cheer.

“Well I can’t deny a lovely lady asking me to remove some of my clothes now can I?” Normally the flirtatious comment would infuriate her; however, she could tell that was more of a defense mechanism at this point than anything serious. Though Sam’s groan of disgust and O’Neill’s quiet snicker were rather unwarranted.

*********

Shrugging out of his coat carefully so as not to disturb a worryingly quiet Caleb and the other kid, whom he supposed he should be calling Essek, Molly took the opportunity to wrap it carefully around Caleb. Hopefully this would keep his tiny wizard from blanking out and going elsewhere. He seemed dangerously close to doing so.

“Hey Caleb, darling, do you think you could keep this safe for me for a bit.” He asked hoping to at least get a noise out of acknowledgement out of him. _Oh, thank the gods_ , he thought in relief when a muffled hum of agreement could be heard from within the coat's folds. From there it was short work to pull off the patchwork jerkin, and the loose linen shirt, stifling the wince from bruised ribs as he pulled it off over his head. Molly almost laughed when this Dr. Janet Frasier nearly dropped the strange white glove she was in the process of pulling on her hand when she saw him shirtless. It was always gratifying to be admired, though he quickly realized that it wasn’t admiration but horror as a stricken look settled upon her face. He supposed that his scars would be a little horrifying for those who didn’t know about them. A series of strangled noises coming from the other individuals in the room drew his attention. Every single one of them from Colonel Cranky to Silent Stoic Teal’c had the same dawning look of horror.

“For a second there, you thought you were dead.” Danny, who reminded him of Caleb to some extent, said voice shaky repeating Molly’s own words from earlier. A sinking feeling settled cold and leaden in his stomach. Looking down a long scar almost the length of his hand glared angrily upon his chest a violent shade of purple red and he just knew that a matching scar graced his back cutting through the all-seeing eye tattoo. A bitter chuckle forced it’s way out of his throat.

“Last thing I remember clearly is that fucker Lorenzo stabbing me through the chest with his glaive and spitting in his face.” Ignoring the half-hearted squawk about language from the Colonel’s direction he continued a dark sneer coloring his words, “Guess I was worth more as living merchandise, than a dead example.”

Molly could tell that they were all wanting more of an explanation but Moonweaver help him, he was just tired and rehashing it just reminded him that his family was too far away and in certain danger and there was nothing he could do about it. He just wanted to rest and cuddle with the one member of his family still within his grasp if that family member would let him. “Look can you interrogate me later? I just want this done and over with.”

Letting his exhaustion show he hoped that they would take the hint and get on with it. The doctor recovered first, stepping up to check his cuts and proclaiming his ribs bruised, which he already knew. He nearly went cross eyed trying to focus on the thin metal tube she was holding in front of his face, only to yelp in surprise as a bright light nearly blinded him and left him blinking black spots out of his vision.

*********

_Oh he does have pupils_ , Janet though dazedly even as she silently berated herself for automatically attempting the pupil dilation test for concussion diagnosis on someone whose pupils weren’t readily visible. Another part of her brain squealed excitedly when she realized that he had a Tapetum lucidem layer in his eyes, focused most strongly behind his near invisible pupils.

“I apologize, I should have warned you that I was checking for pupil response to test for concussions,” it sounded every bit as silly out loud as it had in her head. Instead of scoffing; however, Mollymauk gave her a small tired grin, “You actually noticed? Most people just assume we don’t have any, they’re there just almost the exact same color as our eyes.”

Janet heard what sounded like an excited hum from Daniel. Hopefully he would wait until they had rested before he started trying to pick their brains for information. Now, for the hard part convincing Mollymauk to allow the rest of the exam particularly the blood test. It would probably be smart to start with the baseline temperature and ease into the ultrasound and blood sample. Grabbing the digital thermometer and sliding a fresh plastic cap onto the probe. “Open your mouth please and hold this under your tongue.”

She saw the excited twitch the tip of his tail gave, having relaxed somewhat during the exam, just before a mischievous expression stole across his face. “Certainly, I’m always a fan of pretty…”

“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence.” She warned the slyly smirking man. A wicked grin stealing over his lips even as he opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out. _Oh, it’s forked_ , she mused and not in the way that extreme body modificationists did, cutting the tip of their tongue into two blunt halves. No his tongue was slightly longer and thinner than a normal human tongue and naturally deviated into two long thin tendrils at the tip much like a snakes; a silvery piercing set just a short ways back from the forked tip. He also had an impressive set of fangs that would have looked more at home in a cat’s mouth than a humanoid one. The left one was shorter and looked as if the tip of it had been broken off at some point long ago and had gradually been worn back into a point leaving him with a lopsided grin. She could have done without the eyebrow wiggle that accompanied this display though. Just for that she shoved the thermometer’s probe into his mouth and snapped, “Hold this under your tongue until you hear the beep and don’t let it touch the piercing.”

He closed his mouth around the probe with an impish smile. A few seconds later when the thermometer beeped, she nearly dropped it in shock. There had to be some mistake, but no the numbers didn’t change, 108 degrees Fahrenheit stared back at her.

“Do your people run, ah, hot so to speak?” She asked hoping he didn’t turn it into innuendo as he seemed wont to do when he was uncomfortable. Thankfully he seemed to understand what she was trying to ask, “Most of us yeah. Though I have known a few who lean towards the opposite extreme if you catch my drift. Differences in heritage I guess.”

Okay so that was most likely a normal baseline temperature for him, given that he didn’t show any of the signs that a fever of that degree would cause. Ultrasound and blood test last, before doing the same for the kids. She wasn’t looking forward to that, both children had so far stayed huddled up and seemed to be trying to block everything out. One step at a time, she reminded herself.

“Now this machine is called an ultrasound and I’m going to use it to make sure you didn’t pick up any hitchhikers. This is a less frightening and stressful method for the standard post mission exam, and non-negotiable. We’ve had too many close calls to make any exceptions to this rule.” She watched as grey-violet brows climbed upwards.

“Hitchhikers?” He asked faux casually, and then cast a sharp glance at Teal’c. Before he could comment, Colonel O’Neill jumped in either not seeing the glance or attempting to head off questions.

“Goa’uld. Parasitic brain snakes that like to jump people and turn them into their own meatsuit puppet.”

“And this machine will detect this?” The skeptical answer came, disbelief clear in the slouch of his shoulders. Before Jack could say something most likely snarky and deliberately aimed to annoy, Janet cut in. “It uses high frequency sound waves, higher than is audible by humans and many animals hearing range, to paint a picture which will appear on this screen. It doesn’t hurt, and the only discomfort should be from the conductive gel which feels cold initially. If you would like I can demonstrate the procedure on Colonel O’Neill first.”

A sharp nod was the only assent she got, so she went ahead and turned on the machine motioning for O’Neill to remove the uniform jacket and pull the back of the black undershirt down so she had unobstructed access to the back of his neck. Applying the gel to the ultrasound wand, she carefully ran it slowly over over the back of his neck; watching the screen for a tell tale coiling shape around Jack’s vertebrae. She handed him a paper towel to wipe the goo off of his neck, and turned to expectantly to the shirtless Mollymauk. He didn’t have a lot of modesty issues it would seem. Though it would make things easier to complete the exam. Thankfully the rest of his check up went fairly uneventfully, though they did hit a rough patch when the blood sample was mentioned. The deeply suspicious look and the way he cradled both children closer as she demonstrated the process on Colonel O’Neill was about what she expected; as was, the growled question of what she planned to do with it. Thankfully he took her explanation that it was required to test for parasites, blood borne pathogens, and possible blood poisoning (among other things that she wasn’t going mention, there was no need to try and explain nanites to them). While he clearly wasn’t happy about it, he did allow her to tie rubber tubing around the upper part of his left arm to find a vein and draw a vial of blood.

One down two to go, she could do the rest of SG-1’s exams while O’Neill and Teal’c escorted Mr. Tealeaf and the children to guest quarters after she finished their medical baselines. Seeing as Caleb was still wrapped in the coat she decided to start with Essek and for the first time realized that what she had mistaken for a night shirt was actually a full sized adult’s shirt made out of a silvery grey material that someone had rolled the sleeves up on to keep them from spilling over the child’s hands.

*********

Everything hurt. Not only did he have a dazzle migraine from the nine hells currently stabbing daggers into his skull pulsing in time with the rapid flickering of the bright lights; but, his hips and lower back ached. He desperately wished that he had his boned and padded brace to provide some much needed support to alleviate some of the pain. He could barely think between the pain and the gods be damned noise. Luxon bless why were humans so loud? Scratch that Caleb and Beauregard were not this loud, they were probably outliers like they were in most things. However these humans took noise to a whole new level, first that benighted shrieking alarm of some sort (he hadn’t ruled out a ward of some kind but he had not sensed any magic other than the gate), next everything was humming from the walls to those flickering lights, even their footsteps were loud. How were even their footsteps this loud? Caleb and Beau weren’t this heavy footed. He had lost track of what was being said, he was essentially blind, and stranded in foreign territory.

_Never show weakness_ , the memory of the first words his Den Mother had ever spoken to him rose unbidden as he barely managed to keep from slamming both hands over his ears in an attempt to block the new high pitched wavering whine (much like the buzzing of a small insect only closer and more constant) that joined the assault on his hearing. He would like to see her deal with a torturous environment such as this and not show weakness; to keep her eyes open in the face these punishing lights and constant barrage of sound. For the briefest of moments he wished that he were home, not the sophisticated marble halls of the Lucid Bastion where inter-Den politics hid claws beneath velvet gloves; but a small room above a tailor’s shop filled with the quiet sound of humming and the rhythmic snicker-snack of shears cutting through fabric.

_Breath, center, anchor. Don’t allow the flood to sweep you away. Ignore pain, it is outside you. You have a duty to your Queen and the Dynasty to gather as much information as you can and asses the threat these humans pose, and should the threat prove too great use whatever means you have to mitigate it._ He ruthlessly reminded himself.

What did he know about the situation? He had miscalculated and, much like attempting to put one extra-dimensional space inside of another, the time reversal spell that he had attempted to cast in order to stop the ring from activating was too similar to the magic that powered the ring causing the spell to react and backfire. Catching both himself and Widogast within the spell’s backlash. They both appear to have been transformed to approximately fifty years of age, well for Drow at least, he wasn’t sure what physical age that would be for a human, their lives were so short. It wasn’t a true time dilation, erasing the years and turning back the clock, that much Essek knew. He could see a small scar on his hand, a lucky hit from a prisoner, that he most certainly didn’t have when he was fifty previously. He certainly hoped that some of the scars he had seen on Caleb weren’t gained until much later in life. Unfortunately he deliberately neglected to teach the human the centering and anchoring techniques for safeguarding his mind during their Dunamancy lessons for situations such as this. _Luxon damn me for a fool._ What had seemed a reasonable precaution to ensure that this empire born wizard couldn’t use the Dynasty’s own magic against them, especially given that he was most interested in the manipulation of fate and time, now left him hoping that Widogast was good enough at compartmentalizing to pull through and not drown in a tide of memories. But also, pray that he was strong enough not to fall back into the Scourger’s training and memories that Caleb had admitted to having. The thought left Essek cold at the thought of having to try to outwit one of the more talented wizards he had ever had the pleasure of meeting or training, one who taken to Dunamancy with a frightening ease, and to do so in foreign and possibly enemy territory. Knowing that the Tiefling would side with Caleb.

Speaking of, the Tiefling had been a surprise, he hadn’t been with them before they activated the gate. He would almost dismiss them entirely if not for Caleb’s reaction. He had never asked about the mural of this Tiefling’s likeness, not after seeing the sorrowful look Caleb had given it. He was already having a hard enough time keeping a professional distance from this group of motley individuals, no need to make him care more. He had assumed that this one was dead from the clear memorialization of the figure in the mural, but perhaps in this case dead was instead merely lost. Though he did appreciate their apparent ability to spin whole stories on the fly as easily as they breathed. It was proving useful, and distracting these strange seemingly magicless humans from another material plane. Everyone who had ever stared into the depths of the Luxon was aware that reality was fluid, that multiple realities and universes existed at the same time. However the thought that the Luxon’s beacons may have been scattered over more than just Xandria was an almost horrifying thought.

A cold slimy sensation along the back of his neck accompanied by that high pitched whine louder and sounding like it was directly in his ear made him flinch farther into the almost fever warm skin of Caleb’s Mollymauk. _Don’t react, don’t let them know you are a wizard. Let them underestimate you until the time is right. Endure, for now._ The sensation lasted for all of ten minutes maybe less, followed by a rough not cloth rag wiping the slime away. Hands gently but forcefully pulled him away from the comforting warmth sending fresh waves of pain shooting through his back and hips. Essek was suddenly acutely aware that the only thing preserving his dignity was the comet moth silk shirt he had been wearing under his mantle, the rest of his clothing having slipped off his body as it reshaped itself to a younger countenance. This certainly wasn’t his finest hour and he suspected that he would be in for several lectures from his Den Mother when they finally made it back home. Hopefully he could gather enough useful information that he would be spared the worst of it.

He felt strangely jacketed fingers under his chin tilting his head upwards, presumably towards the light.

“Essek, can you understand me? I need you to open your eyes for me.” The one who had called herself Janet Fraiser said _. No I will not open my eyes and make this dazzle migraine worse!_ He thought, not giving any outwards signs that he could understand the odd version of common she spoke. He found that people were more free with what they said when they believed he couldn’t understand them.

“Sweetheart, I need to make sure that you don’t have a concussion.” _I’m not your sweetheart, and I’m not concussed._ He thought venomously. He could hear Mollymauk start to protest warning against whatever action she was about to take at the same time he heard her apologize and fingers gently pried open the eyelid on his right eye. An agonizing and blinding light flooded already blurry vision and searing across his retina.

“Ignorant witch,” he snarled in Undercommon; jerking backwards slamming into the bare chest of Caleb’s Tiefling right eye streaming tears even as he tightly closed it against any more assaults.

“I tried to warn you, Essek’s people are extremely light sensitive.” The lilting voice of Mollymauk mockingly cut into the silence left by his outburst.

“Oh, oh no, I’m sorry. I think I may have something to help with that.” Essek could hear the walk human away, again he wondered why these humans were so heavy footed. A matter of minutes passed and the sound of footsteps came back.

“Essek, I’m sorry that I inadvertently hurt you. I have some lenses here that will block out a lot of the light so you can see. I’m going to put them on your face, will you allow me to do that?” She sounded genuine enough in her remorse, but did these humans really not know anything about Drow? Then again they didn’t seem to know anything about Tieflings either. He continued to play dumb and didn’t acknowledge that he understood her apology. A sigh and finally he felt a smooth material that felt vaguely similar to something made out of horn hook over his ears and settle on the bridge of his nose. Even through his closed eyelids he could sense the difference in the light levels. Cautiously cracking his eyes open a fraction he could see the world was now shrouded in a comfortable filter of darkness, though that maddening flickering hadn’t stopped. Crouched in front of him was a human woman in a blue military uniform. She was still slightly blurred but clear enough that he could make out the words Maj Frasier engraved on a metal pin on the right side of her chest.

“Better?” She asked as soon as she noticed his eyes were open. Continuing to glare at her, he stubbornly remained silent. She let out a frustrated sigh saying, “Okay pantomime it is.”

She held up some kind of box with a tethered metal wand attached to it, she mimed opening her mouth and then pointed at him. Shaking his head angrily, no whatever that was, he wasn’t doing it. He hurt, he had been slimed, poked, prodded, and blinded, and he was done. She reached out fingers gripping his jaw forcing it open as the metal wand was shoved under his tongue and held there despite all attempts to spit it out. The loud beep caused him to flinch in reflex as the fingers left his jaw. He may not be willing to reveal his proficiency in magic just yet, even if he did, he currently only had a bare fraction of the power normally available to him; but, there were other ways he could make his displeasure known. Spitting the wand out he whipped head around to try and catch her fingers in a nasty bite.

*********

Janet jerked her hand back just in time to avoid getting bitten. God this was why she had never wanted to go into pediatrics. She couldn’t blame the child for their behavior, he clearly couldn’t understand English and she had unwittingly hurt him on top of stress and traumatizing circumstances. Unfortunately the blood sample was non-negotiable and she knew that there was no way in hell this child would allow her to take it without fighting. Glancing at Mollymauk hoping for some aid in wrestling the little hellcat for it, her heart sank at the unimpressed flat red stare he was currently giving her. There would be no help coming from that corner. Which meant that she would have to enlist Jack to help her play bad guy and hold him place long enough for her to get it.

“Colonel, I need you to help hold him down so I can get the blood sample.” The look he gave her rivaled the venomous pale gold glare Essek was giving from behind the oversized sunglasses.

“You better be putting me in for hazardous duty pay under biohazards for this, doc.” He snarked even as he moved into position to pin the kids wrists down.

“You’re already drawing biohazard, hazardous duty pay, sir.” Mollymauk was openly glaring now angling his body in an attempt to shield Essek while she prepped the sample tube and collection needle.

“Look, I’m obligated to do this. We will try to make it as minimally traumatic as possible but it must be done,” She snapped.

“Right fine, Just so you know any harm that comes to them I will do my best to end you by whatever means possible. Don’t even think about trying this with Caleb,” he hissed back tail snapping back and forth behind him threatening to capsize an empty instrument cart. It took the two of them ten minutes and both she and O’Neill were sporting fresh scratches from kid's sharp nails. He had also managed to kick Jack in the chest. Janet didn’t know how she was going to go home and face Cassie tonight. How she was going to deal with her adoptive daughter’s sleepy “I love you” when she inevitably checked up on her in the middle of the night. Not after further traumatizing an already stressed child, and essentially violating the first tenant of the Hippocratic Oath, _Above all else do no harm._ “Does Caleb understand English?” The last thing she needed was a repeat of the last forty minutes of her life.

“If you mean Common, then he does, speaking it is a bit iffy though.” The brusque reply sent a wave of relief through her. She took a few deep breaths to center herself, and turned to the bundle of maroon fabric and bright embroidery pressed into Mollymauk’s side. Crouching down as much as her blues would allow, enough to roughly put her close to eye level with the boy.

“Caleb, can you come out please? I need to make sure you’re not hurt.” She pitched her voice as soothingly as she could, praying that this would work. Slowly the coat retreated revealing dark red slightly longer than shoulder length hair framing a small, pale, and worryingly thin freckled face in soft waves.

_Oof_ , _those are some intense baby blues_ , she thought as he made fleeting eye contact enough for a suspicious glance before skittering away.

*********

She looked like his mother, except her eyes were brown, not blue. He couldn’t look, he was sure she would know the moment she saw him. His mother had always known when he was guilty of something, so he was sure she would know too. About the spool of thread and the bag of soot and salt that he had hidden in Molly’s coat, about the fact that he was bad,wrong. Nott would be proud, but Nott wasn’t with him, maybe she had finally realized he was bad,wrong and left too. He glanced at the doctor again. She wore a white coat over blue uniform, it wasn’t the same but he didn’t like white coats. White coats meant the asylum. Maybe he never left, maybe he was imagining a woman that looked like his mother only different because he had killed her. It would explain why there was an Astrid but not Astrid woman here too.

“Caleb, can you open your mouth for me.” The woman who looked like his mother asked.

_“Open up, Bren. I know it tastes terrible but if you swallow it I have some hot tea and honey to wash the bad taste away. Can you be my brave boy and swallow the medicine, son.”_ Bren obediently opened his mouth as mother, not mother, placed a metal stick in it and told him to keep the stick under his tongue. The beeping noise startled him and he furtively looked around to see if anyone saw. He caught sight of a Crick child. _Nein! That was bad, wrong, those were Bren’s thoughts not Caleb’s._ Caleb didn’t like Bren. Bren was garbage, Caleb was garbage too but at least Caleb could do good things. He remembered telling Beau that he didn’t want to be Bren anymore, he just wanted to be Caleb. Caleb was safe, his friends liked Caleb, they would hate Bren. Caleb opened his mouth when prompted and the stick was removed.

“Can you hold his hair out of the way for me while I perform the ultrasound Mollymauk.”

“Yeah sure.” He could feel the clawed tips of Molly’s fingers combing through his hair.

_“Do you like them?” Nott’s screechy voice sounds in his ear and he can still feel her thick claw-like nails in his hair tying off the last braid securing the flowers she’s woven into it._ That was nice, maybe Molly would weave flowers into his hair if Nott had truly left. Molly believed in second chances and so Molly couldn’t leave. Everything would fall apart if Molly left. Caleb didn’t know why that was but it would, so Molly wasn’t allowed to leave. Something cold and slimy on the back of his neck made him squirm. It was like when he used molasses to cast Slow but on the back of his neck and not his fingers. It was gross and it needed to go away, he tried squirming away but it didn’t leave.

“All done. Let’s get you wiped off, okay?” The cold slimyness was wiped away and his hair was dropped and he felt safe.

“Caleb can I see your arm?” Not mother asked.

_“Let me see Bren, tell me where it hurts and I’ll kiss it better.”_ Bren held out his arm and he watched her roll up the too big linen sleeve to reveal rows upon rows of scars marching up his arm. He could hear her gasp and it sounded like someone choking. He didn’t understand why they were upset, it was for his own good. What was a little pain in the face of getting stronger.

“I’m going to draw some blood, you should only feel a pinch and it will be all over, okay? Then you can go back under the coat.” A band that felt like it was made of gum arabic left out in the sun too long was tied around his upper arm. Suddenly not mother became Trent.

_“Give me your arm, Bren. Don’t flinch, boy. I never took you for a coward, give me your arm.”_ A sharp pain bloomed in the crook of his arm. _Nein! Nein! Get them out! Get them out!_

The world dissolved into static.

*********

Janet had thought she was prepared for anything at this point, from tears, to screaming meltdowns, even violence. She wasn’t prepared to be met with clear signs of abuse in the scars marching up a too thin arm, far too precise and deliberate to be self inflicted along with bands of scar tissue encircling his wrists from where he had clearly been strapped down. The quick darting gaze that seemed to be seeing everything but what was actually there. She was not prepared for him to just go limp in the middle of taking the blood sample.

“Caleb are you okay?” Tilting his head up she was met with a blank thousand yard stare. She removed the collection needle and the blood vial immediately applying pressure and wrapping the sight with gauze. Before she could do any more Mollymauk pulled the boy closer to his chest with a practiced ease and gently started patting Caleb’s face with his fingertips.

“Time for this later, darling. Come on back to me, that’s it, Mr. Caleb.” Little by little his eyes started re-focusing and that terrifying blankness receding. As soon his eyes completely refocused Mollymauk leaned down and kissed the crown of his head and again on his forehead.

“I think you’d better start explaining, Tealeaf.” Jack’s growl echoed through the infirmary. Bundling Caleb back into the coat, Mollymauk paused with a shaky laugh that was little more than a huff of air.

“Yeah, suppose I should.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that i am not sure if I will be able to update next weekend or the weekend after. I am going to home to visit my family for the holidays and my parents have crappy internet at their house so the only time I will be able to almost guarantee another update will be around or shortly after New Years. That being said if that is the case it will most likely be a multi chapter update.


	7. Ready or Not, It's Time, On With the Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Molly finally tells a version of the story and the SG-1 crew are disapproving of Molly's parenting choices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a little holiday present for everyone, this chapter turned out more massive than expected which is rapidly becoming par for the course and my estimated chapter count just keeps going up. Honestly it wouldn't have been so massive if Jack's history and issues hadn't kept rearing their ugly head making him a combative son of a bitch. Hopefully I managed to keep this chapter from talking head syndrome as it's heavily heavily dialogue based. I know that I keep saying it every chapter but your comments mean the world to me and I love hearing your speculations about what's going to happen next or what you think is going on. 
> 
> Also it occurred to me while reading back through the last chapter that Caleb's point of view could almost read as if he had Dissociative Identity Disorder. That was not the intended case, however he is prone, as we've seen in canon, to dissociation add in the fact that he had 33 years of memories crammed into a five year old's brain and dunamantic spell backlash his sense of self is a bit fragile right now.

“What do you want to know?” he asked. The first thing of fortune telling or selling a con, Mollymauk knew, was determining what the audience wanted to hear. _Let them determine what I say_ , it had always worked in the past, _case and point, Cree._ Easing a bundled up Caleb into his lap, he could feel him shaking from the emotional aftermath of the episode, Molly waited for these people to give him the clues he needed. Curiously enough instead of spinning one of his outrageous stories, he found himself more willing to lie via omission. He supposed it was because he had already told too much truth for one of his outrageous stories to be believable. It would be better for him if they formed their own conclusions rather than telling them everything.

“What the hell happened to him?” Jack’s voice was full of barely suppressed rage, echoed in the expressions of the others. He could feel the full body flinch Caleb gave as he pushed closer to Molly’s chest. Letting out another huff of air disguised as a laugh, Molly replied.

“You would ask the hard questions, wouldn’t you. The truth is I don’t know.” His words had Caleb relaxing even though the shaking hadn’t stopped. He watched as the Colonel began to purple with rage, “What do you mean you don’t know.”

The man’s voice was low and had taken on a distinctly dangerous edge. Yeah he definitely had a soft spot for children. If Molly had to hazard a guess the man was a parent himself.

“Exactly what I said, I don’t know. I’ve only known him a few months and I’m not in the habit of asking for people’s pasts. Most carnival folk aren’t” That wasn’t the answer they wanted to hear, but that was all the answer he was willing to give. Fencing pretty words in a cat and mouse game was more Fjord’s or Beau’s wheelhouse anyway. Though at the moment he was almost anticipating the challenge of feeding these people just enough of the truth and seeing what wild conclusions they came up with on their own. Before Colonel O’Neill could growl another question at him, Danny blurted out, “Carnival? They have carnivals on your planet?”

It was the kind of excited question that reminded him of Jester. As of right now this Daniel Jackson was the only one of these people that Molly was incline to like. Just for that, and the fact that the man had taken the bait drawing the focus away from Caleb, he was willing to indulge that curiosity.

“Well I don’t know how many others there were but there was at least one, The Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities.” He said with a flourish that drew a small breath of laughter from Caleb. Well that was sounding better, hopefully that was a sign that he would be all right.

“Oh and I suppose you’re one of the clowns.” It was the kind of remark designed to needle someone’s pride into giving more information than intended. The more this O’Neill talked the more the man reminded him of Beau at her most unpleasant. _Oh I’m going to have a hell of a fun time winding him up_.

“Isn’t it obvious? I was the Barker and occasional fortune teller.” he gave the man his best showman’s grin, just to watch him seethe in frustration. He could feel his tail starting to twitch excitedly. Looking down at Caleb as he felt the shaking ease, Molly saw that his small wizard was looking up at him with an amused smile ghosting about his mouth. Things were going to be alright.

“What is a carnival?” The deep voice had come from the gold branded Teal’c. So the man could speak, he had been beginning to wonder.

“Oh you poor deprived soul. A carnival, my tall friend, is a traveling show made up of various acts. For example we had The Knot Sisters, contortionists and acrobats. Ornna The Fire Faerie, fire spinning and dancing. Bo The Breaker, feats of strength beyond most people’s abilities. KyIre and Toya, the Devil Toad and the Child with a voice to tame the most vicious of beasts. Desmond who could set the stage with just a few chords of music, and finally Gustav our esteemed Ring Master to tie all the acts together. At only five copper to see the show it was steal, it would have been a bargain at five silver, and at five gold it would have been worth every penny.” A hint of his carnival barker persona crept into his voice as he finished with a flourish. It was gratifying to see the light of understanding in the man’s eyes. Though he didn’t like the calculating expression on O’Neill’s face and the man’s next words solidified that dislike.

“I notice you didn’t mention Caleb being part of the carnival.” _Damn the man,_ Molly thought as Caleb began to tense again _, he’s worse than a half starved dog fighting over scraps at letting things go._ _Fine if that’s the way you want to play it._ Ignoring the question for the time being, he leaned down and murmured to Caleb just low enough that the others except Essek couldn’t hear. “It’s all right I’ll give them only enough information for them to form their own conclusions and you know me I don’t care about pasts or futures.”

Caleb relaxed a bit, not much certainly not as relaxed as he had been before O’Neill had opened his mouth again. Speaking again louder this time so as to be heard by the others Molly said, “I’m going to put you down and have a little chat with these people. Okay, Caleb? I’ll be within eye shot and ear shot the entire time. Can your new friend keep you company for me?”

Mollymauk still wasn’t sure how much of adult Caleb was still there but he needed to convince these people that his wizard had always been a child. He got a sullen nod in response and proceeded to shift the coat wrapped child off his lap and place him next to Essek. He didn’t miss the deeply concerned and almost frightened glance the Drow gave his wizard. Nor the quiet rage that lurked in the pale gold eyes staring back at him from behind darkened lenses.

Molly jumped down off the padded table, briefly considered putting his shirt back on and discarded the idea. He still stood by his stance that when in doubt if something goes wrong, just…nudity. It usually works. And this time was no different he could see how uncomfortable they seemed to be with his skin, scars, and tattoos on display. Sauntering over to where they were grouped he said, “Care to take this a little ways away so Caleb can’t overhear.”

They shuffled just far enough to be out of Caleb’s earshot if they talked quietly, but not Essek’s, _perfect_. If they weren’t familiar with Tiefling or Drow, as the absolute fiasco that was the medical exams suggested, they might not realize just how sensitive Elven (and by proxy Drow) hearing was.

“Look asshole, I don’t know what your problem is but it’s bleeding all over the place and it’s upsetting my friend.” His tail was beating an annoyed tattoo against his ankles.

“My problem, is that someone clearly abused that kid and you don’t seem to care.” _Oh, he did not just say I don’t care._ Suppressing the urge to let loose a blistering tirade of Infernal, that surely would have been laced with Vicious Mockery, Molly stared the man down before finally hissing, “You think I don’t care, you couldn’t be more wrong. If I had anything more concrete than a vague direction to point in; you can bet your ass that if we couldn’t take the fucker out right away, we would be making plans. But the truth is I hadn’t seen his arms bare before today; none of us, except maybe Nott, had. He kept them hidden, we only knew about his issues with fire because of Alfield. However, we weren’t willing to push him for information, not when he was so skittish already.”

Mollymauk paused to let that sink in before continuing, “So don’t you ever say that I don’t care.” By this time he was leaning into the Colonel’s face almost nose to nose with the man. His tail was lashing angrily back and forth, curiously enough only Janet and Daniel seemed to be paying attention to it. Crossing his arms, he leaned back on his heels moving himself to less threatening stance and waited.

“Can you tell us what you do know? Or at least how you came to be friends?” The earnest question almost made him smile. Daniel was playing peacemaker, another reason he was rapidly becoming Molly’s favorite current adult in the room.

“Couple of months back the carnival was in a little town called Trostenwald and we had a show go south on us.” He could see from their intent gazes and focus that he had them hooked. _Good, the initial sell was always the hardest._

“How far south did this performance go?” The blond, Samantha, asked. He gave a humorless chuckle before answering, “Well two audience members died and if weren’t for the quick thinking of myself, Yasha, and few audience members that had been seated next to Yasha it would have been far worse. As it was the carnival and those who had stayed to assist were essentially put under arrest for the duration of the investigation.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty far south I would say.” Jack shook his head ruefully, “How’d you get out of that situation and how does this relate to Caleb?” Molly wanted to roll his eyes but he was entirely sure that the effect would be lost on this group.

“Who do you think was one of those audience members that stayed?” Shifting his weight forwards onto his toes, he prepared to get in this asshole’s face again if needed just to get his point across, because gods the man just wasn’t getting it. And sure enough just like clockwork, came the expected explosive question, “What the hell?!”

“Look we had no way of knowing that one of our performers was not what he presented himself as. And I’m sure for Caleb it was safer for him to stay next to Nott than possibly be trampled by the panicking crowd. Near as I can tell Nott was the only person in the world he had, until we all started traveling together.” It was far more true than they knew, Molly remembered just how withdrawn and haunted Caleb had been at the beginning. It had taken a long time for him to warm up to the rest of them beyond Nott. He could only hope that this incident didn’t cause a backslide into that earlier mistrust.

“So Caleb and this Nott you mentioned joined up with the carnival afterwards?” Teal’c’s deep voice distracted Molly from his thoughts. Ah, bless the man for being straight forward and to the point. He was feeding Molly just enough direction to give him an idea of how to proceed with the tale.

“Uh, no actually. The carnival disbanded. Gustav decided to take the full responsibility in exchange for the rest of our freedom. Ornna and some of the others decided to make a go of it on their own. Yasha and I decided that we would travel awhile with these five strangers whom had stayed to help. Including Caleb and Nott.” It was by no means a complete account just vague enough for them to start forming their own conclusions and point them in another direction entirely. He started to relax a bit, the agitated wagging of his tail slowing to slow twitch. He could see them chewing this information over. Daniel in particular was wearing an expression that he had seen frequently on Caleb’s face, one that said _there’s something here but I’m not seeing it_.

“You mentioned a thing about fire, care to explain?” Janet Fraiser spoke for the first time since Caleb’s episode.

“This isn’t the first time Caleb’s had an episode like that. Honestly that’s the only reason I knew how to bring him out of it. The first time was when we arrived in Alfield. The town was literally on fire when we arrived, it had just been hit by bandits and cultists. Caleb just froze and blanked out. Much like he did earlier.” Of course Molly neglected to include the fact that the bandits and cultists were Gnolls and the fact that it wasn’t in the town itself that Caleb had blanked out. He hadn’t seen any other races beyond human among these people and given their lack of knowledge regarding Tieflings and Drow he wasn’t going to risk their disbelief by including other races. He watched them exchange uneasy glances at his explanation, as if something about it sounded familiar. At this point Molly wasn’t sure how much they were buying this story, which could spell very bad things for the three of them. Hazarding a glance back at Caleb and Essek, he was relieved to see that Caleb hadn’t retreated all the way under the coat.

“Cultists?” Daniel’s question caught him off guard, and he had to think about how he wanted to answer that question for a few seconds.

“Yeah some of the bandits grabbed as many of the townsfolk as they could. Probably about a quarter or more of the population. They intended, and did manage to succeed with a good portion of those taken, to sacrifice to some creature that they regarded as a hungry god.” The prickling sensation of goosebumps rippled its way across his skin, a combination of the cool air finally getting to him and remembrance of the scene they had found in the Gnoll’s lair. Moonweaver, he hoped they didn’t press him for more information than that. Hopefully they got around to asking him about the Iron Shepherds soon and prayed he could spin enough of a story to keep them from questioning the kids. If Molly was at all honest with himself, and he tried not to be, he was a hair’s breadth from from letting his Devil’s Tongue run free in an effort to enthrall them just to end this interrogation. He had no idea what he would do if they turned their questions to Caleb or Essek. He strongly suspected that Vicious Mockery would be involved.

“I know this might be a traumatic subject, but can you tell us as much as you can remember of how you ended up on PX7-4445? It might help us find a way to get the three of you home.” Samantha’s earnest question was the one he had been waiting for and expecting since this started. Now to weave just enough information together to impress upon them just how time sensitive this situation was. How should he set the stage and make it believable that they had thought it was a good idea to bring an apparent five year old along with them. Though he supposed he could play upon the truth, with some careful creative editing.

“Well after the fiasco that was Alfield we traveled on to the nearest larger city, Zadash, and stayed there for a while. We picked up whatever odd jobs that a motley crew of talents such as ours could find. Which led to us, rather unwisely me-thinks, taking a few jobs from this guy known only as The Gentleman. He’s the kind of man that it’s very difficult and unwise to say ‘no’ to when you’ve come under his employ if you catch my drift.” He saw O’Niell’s face start to twist in disapproval, but surprisingly the man kept silent. _If only he had learned to hold his tongue sooner_ , Molly thought bitterly before continuing.

“He asked us to check in with one of his contacts located in Shady Creek Run. He had some shipments go missing, his overland cargo routes in that area had been disrupted, and his contact had gone worryingly silent. Keep in mind before you judge that Shady Creek Run was to the North and quite a ways away from Zadash. Even with our cart and horses it was going to take us a minimum of a week to reach it, that was if we pressed our horses at full gallop for all the hours of daylight we had. So leaving Caleb behind was not an option, We needed Nott for her particular skill set and knowledge so leaving her behind in Zadash was out and Caleb refused to stay with anyone else.” Molly may have understated somethings and embellished others but that was just a hallmark of good storytelling. He could already see the protests forming on the good doctor’s and Colonel’s lips and held up his hand to forestall them. He was never going to get anywhere if they kept interrupting and protesting every small action the group took.

“Try to look at it from our perspective, this was a relatively low risk job, compared to some of the others we took. A simple trip to make contact with a person and carry information back. Apart from the usual dangers of wildlife and bandits along the road, which in turn were mitigated somewhat in that we were clearly a larger and heavily armed group, it was safe job. What we didn’t know was that a group of slavers that called themselves the Iron Shepherds had moved into the area financed by a rival family of the contact in Shady Creek Run.” They still didn’t look happy about the decision the group had made but were apparently willing to hold their tongues for the time being. He supposed if they were appalled by the fact that they had brought a child, as far as they knew, along they were probably going to be equally as appalled by the rest of his story.

Oh, Mollymauk knew that they had been stupid about getting their friends back, he knew that now. That didn’t mean he was looking forwards to the judgy reactions he was going to get. He could see that they were all waiting for him to continue and he supposed that it was a good thing to see that he had them all so hooked on his words. Taking a deep breath, that shook more than he cared to admit, Molly continued.

“We were a couple of days south of Shady Creek Run, traveling on Glory Run Road, when one morning we woke up and three of our friends were missing. Yasha among them. I still don’t know how they managed to get the drop on her.” He could see the moment it clicked with them where this story was going. Daniel in particular looked like he was going to be sick. O’Neill though was wearing a particularly mulish expression and Molly prepared for whatever snide judgmental comment the man was about to make. The chip on that man’s shoulder was at least as large as the one one Beau’s and he had no patience for it, not right now.

“You didn’t set a watch?” The tone of the question was every bit as snide and judgemental as anticipated. He stared the man dead in the eye and replied in an even voice, “We did.”

“We searched around the area where we camped and found evidence of a fight. At that point we still weren’t sure what exactly had happened but we decided we were going to follow the trail and see where it lead. Hopefully back to our friends.” Oh, that was the understatement of the century, they were all barely friends just a disparate group of assholes with their own agendas. Everyone had been at each other’s throats. Honestly he was more surprised by the fact that the others stayed, he had been almost sure that Caleb and Nott were going to split. But Molly had needed this group to work, even if they never ended up as close as the circus had been, for a given value of close.

“You ran into or were approached by someone before you could follow the trail, weren’t you?” Daniel’s question caught him off guard, he hadn’t even hinted at that fact. There was a knowing sort of suspicion in the man’s blue eyes made all the more unsettling by the fact that they were slightly magnified by his glasses. It was as if he just wanted Molly to confirm a theory he already had. The look reminded him so much of Caleb that for a brief moment he wondered if Daniel were also a wizard.

“Heh, yeah. A fighter named Keg.” A scarily triumphant look passed across the man’s face and vanished. That was strange, but if he had to hazard a guess whatever theory the man had been formulating had just been confirmed (at least in his mind it had).

“Keg?” That was Molly’s least favorite human in the room piping up incredulously. “His name was Keg, seriously?”

“Her, and yes, her name was Keg. Like the beer or black powder container. She informed us that our friends had been taken by the Iron Shepherds. It took a little convincing but we finally managed to get the names of all the people involved with the Shepherds, and the fact that she used to work for them. However she agreed to help us get our friends back if we agreed to kill all the Iron Shepherds.” It wasn’t exactly how it had happened but being vague on the details was better in the long run.

“Please tell me you didn’t drag a little kid, who can’t be more than five years old, along on a desperate suicide run.” Yep, there they were with their judgmental looks again. Of course they didn’t know that Caleb was normally an adult. Molly supposed that he would have been appalled that they had dragged a five year old with them if said five year old were actually a child at the time. Given their track record with Kiri they should probably never be allowed to be in charge of a child’s well being ever.

“We had no choice, Hupperdook, was more than a day’s ride in the opposite direction. And besides we had already lost one of the horses to a nest of giant insects on that route, with three of our number gone it was out of the question. Every minute we wasted the farther we were from being able to get them back. If the Shepherd’s actually made it back to their base, we would likely never have seen our friends again. They would have been sold.” Molly rubbed his eyes and ran that hand over his horns and through his hair in exhaustion. The events of the last several days were starting to catch up with him.

“We spotted a caravan that was likely them and we hurried to get ahead of it. We made camp off the road where we wouldn’t be seen and laid an ambush. It was a good plan except for three things: there were more of them than expected, Keg froze up during the fight, and Nott couldn’t get the locks on the cages open.” That calculating triumphant flickered across Daniel’s face again and for a brief second Molly wished that he could be a fly on the wall for whatever theory the man had. The others had varying degrees of horror dawning on their faces, a few not too stealthily sneaking glances at the angry scar on his chest, as they realized where his story was going. Swallowing hard Molly forced himself to continue even as he felt his tail start to twine itself around one of his legs.

“The leader, an ugly bastard called Lorenzo, I’m still not sure what or how he did it but he made the area very cold; slowing us down. He decided he was going to make an example of one of us and it was between me and Beau; and when he went for her, well I did the only thing I could think of I threw something and drew his attention.” _Fuck, just a little more and then you can go cuddle Caleb, if he lets you._ Molly thought, his hands had started shaking during this section of the tale. Crossing his arms in an attempt to disguise the fact and partially to hide the ugly scar that they kept glancing at. He wasn’t sure how successful he was; but, Molly couldn’t bring himself to look at them anymore as it finally started to hit him that he had likely died again. Even if it appeared that it didn’t stick any better than it had the first time. _Or, somebody or something brought me back_ , he thought. He supposed that waking up to a pint sized wizard and his new friend, a creepy stone ring, and enemies to fight with all of his memories intact was better than digging his way out of another shallow grave with no memories at all.

“If you need to stop we’ll understand; I’m pretty sure we can fill in the blanks from here.” Gods bless Samantha; however, he needed to finish. “No, No. I’m good, I need to finish. You can guess what happened next.”

He gestured at his chest and the long angry scar they had been sneaking glances at. “I mean I don’t regret drawing that bastard’s attention. At least I know that I did everything in my power to get Yasha and the others back. Besides if anyone of us had to die I was the best choice, after all I had already come back once before and there was a chance I could manage it once again. Which seems to be the case, though I do regret that Caleb saw all of it.”

That got their attention, and suddenly all of them were clamoring to speak and ask him questions. Tough, he was done. He had already talked to entirely too much, with far too much honesty for his tastes, and the events of the last couple of days were finally catching up with him. Finally O’Neill’s voice cut over the rest, “What do you mean you came back once before?”

“Nope, I’m done. Mother told me never to give a story away for free and I’ve already given you three. I’m exhausted, the kids are exhausted, and we are going to need a place to crash here soon. And don’t you even think about interrogating Caleb or Essek; you can consider that my payment for the information.” Just as it looked like the Colonel was going to argue with him over the stipulation, a loud snap echoed in the infirmary.

_Shit, shit, shit, Caleb you couldn’t have waited to summon Frumpkin when we were away from prying eyes._ He had no idea how he was going to explain the sudden appearance of a hawk in the room. A room that had no windows. The thought made Molly’s skin crawl as he realized that he hadn’t seen any windows in this place yet. _Time for that later_. He spun around prepared to have to make up some explanation; but, there was no hawk Frumpkin, there wasn’t even cat Frumpkin. Just the Drow quickly hiding fingers that appeared to be suspiciously smudged with something glittering and iridescent. Which seemed to match the brief glimpse he caught of something shining on Caleb’s forehead before he retreated entirely under the coat. _Oh, oh no. Fuck._ Frumpkin must have gotten killed and they didn’t have the ingredients to bring him back.

“I take it that’s a bad sign?” Janet asked quietly as another more muffled snap sounded. Giving a shaky sigh Molly nodded, “Yeah, any chance we can go somewhere to rest and just deal for a bit?”

For the first time since this mess began O’Neill seemingly decided to be reasonable. Turning towards Teal’c and Daniel he spoke, “Teal’c, Danny, think you can escort our guests here to the guest quarters on the opposite end of our currently occupied suite? That is after our guest puts his clothes back on.”

Oh now there was no way Mollymauk was going to pass up an opportunity like that. Especially since the man had been a persistent ass the majority of the short time that he had known him. “What a little skin too much for you?”

The look on the man’s face nearly caused Molly to start laughing. A welcome distraction from all the tenseness of the past several hours.

“Yeah well this facility has public decency laws.” Jack’s irritated snarky answer just made him smile. Though he honestly did have to swallow a guffaw at Daniel’s cough that sounded suspiciously like “Thor” and the pained grimace that Jack gave in response. Shrugging affably and sauntering back over to his clothing and the children, Molly tried to shake off the lingering unease from earlier. It was short work to pull his much abused shirt on as well as his patchwork vest. Caleb hadn’t made any sound since either snap and he was praying that this wasn’t a spiral back down into another episode. Molly would have to deal with it when they got to the guest quarters.

“Hey mister Caleb I’m going to pick you up now, is that alright?” No answer except for another snap. _Shit, hopefully he doesn’t freak out_. Thankfully all he got when he scooped Caleb up onto his hip was a muffled disgruntled noise, before he settled against Molly’s shoulder. When Essek also allowed himself to be picked up, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

As the five of them made their way to clockwork carriage car in tense uneasy silence Molly could have sworn that he felt a hand rest briefly on the small of his back. They had just gotten through the car’s doors when he heard Caleb snap again. This pattern continued as they went down (snap, pause, snap again). It was rhythmic and deliberate but there wasn’t any set pattern to it. Sometimes they were right on the heels of each other and sometimes there were a couple of minutes between each snap.

The carriage car opened up onto another hallway that looked identical to last one. One by one they exited and Molly could hear what sounded like angry voices from down the left hand side of the corridor. Straining his ear for a better idea of what was going on he heard, “You cannot keep us here! We are Earth’s allies we have a right and a need to know what SG-1 found on that planet. It is imperative to our people that this information released to us.”

It was a man’s voice but there was a strange undercurrent to it that at times almost sounded as if it were doubled somewhat as if two voices were speaking the same words at once. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his fingers itch for his swords. From the sudden tightening of Essek’s grip it was clear that he heard it too. Molly could only be glad when they were led the opposite direction to a nondescript door towards the end of the hallway. Daniel removed a white rigid card, not much smaller than one of his Tarot cards, and stuck it into a slot on the door. There was a beeping sound and a click then Daniel pushed it open and reached to the left and with a click the room was illuminated.

The room wasn’t overly large, probably about the size of a room in a mid-range inn. There was some sort of blue grey carpeting on the floor, a pleasant change from the hard concretion flooring of the other areas. A medium sized bed sat up against the far wall and a bedside table was placed next to it. A small box with numbers displayed in a baleful red, reading 23:30, rested next to what Molly would have assumed was a candle sconce but there was some sort of shade over it, and some sort of object tethered to another box. A desk sat along the adjacent wall complete with chair. They were shown the closet and a room off to the side of the entryway turned out be a water closet and washroom similar to the ones found in high end luxury inns and brothels. A brief explanation of the glassed in box, called a shower, sounded suspiciously similar to the sluice rooms a few of bath houses with communal baths had to clean off the worst of the muck before you got into the bath.

As soon as Teal’c and Danny left Molly heaved a sigh a of relief and put Caleb and Essek on the bed, before saying to the Drow, “We need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, barring this next section spiraling out of control like the last two chapters have done, the next chapter will be out around New Years and we will finally hear Daniel's theory about how Molly, Caleb, and Essek ended up on that planet.


	8. Designed and Directed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which tensions run high, theories are revealed, and Daniel Jackson once again arrives at an answer of fish. I think it's a flounder this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it is still technically New Years, at least it's New Years day. This chapter got away from me again, at this rate I will end up hitting 50K words before this story is finished. That being said for those who are not familiar the Stargate SG-1 universe and are wondering if this story has taken a wander through the Marvel universe the answer is no. The Asgard are one of the allied races that used the stargates along with the Ancients, the Nox, and the Furlings. The Asgard look like the classic grey aliens which happened due to the fact that they began extending their lives artificially. They also do not wear clothes.
> 
> Shout out to all the lovely people who reviewed the last chapter and gave your theories about what is going on and what you think is going to happen. It really does fuel my desire to get the next chapter out for you lovely people. So even if you are tired of hearing me thank you for the kind reviews I will continue to do so because I really do appreciate them.

Sam swore that she could hear the clock on the wall ticking like a metronome in the awkward silence that filled General Hammond’s office as they sat around conference table waiting for Daniel and Teal’c’s return. As Jack got up to pace again, she tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach that hadn’t quite left since the incident at the stargate. After seeing Caleb’s arms and the reaction he had during Janet’s medical exam Sam was no longer sure she wanted Daniel to translate what he had said. Not if it meant confirming the sinking feeling she had that she resembled one of the people who had abused him.

“Colonel O’Neill, sit down.” General Hammond’s command cut through the silence startling her out of her uneasy thought train. Watching her commanding officer plunk himself down into his chair like a recalcitrant teenager was just another reminder he had been in a foul mood that had only grown worse as the situation with Caleb had unfolded. She exchanged glances with Janet, whose unsettled and uneasy expression matched that sick feeling in her stomach. This was not going to be a pleasant debrief, the only saving grace was that it appeared she wasn’t going to have to deal with Lantash and Martouf. _Thank God for small miracles_ , Sam thought. She honestly didn’t know how she would react right now if she had to deal with that particular Tok’ra and host after the fiasco that was this mission. Her nerves still felt rubbed raw and most likely would until mid-afternoon tomorrow when she had a chance to sleep and collect her thoughts.

“I take it our guests are the reason why Dr. Jackson requested that our Tok’ra allies not be present for this debriefing, Colonel O’Neill?” Jack straightened up from his sullen slouch to answer.

“Among other reasons, sir. Something about this mission was fishy, might be coincidence but my gut feeling says it wasn’t.” His answer was the kind of terse clipped tone, absent of it’s usual snark just barely skirting the edges of insubordination, that he only used when ops went South. She was almost positive that Jack hadn’t been been seeing Caleb and Essek at all from the moment the team realized that there were children on the platform. Instead, if she had to lay money on it, he saw Charlie in danger, Charlie hurt and upset, and a neglectful guardian and it was hitting far too close to home. That was the only explanation she had for why he had gone after Mollymauk so persistently and aggressively.

“You do realize that Aldwin is currently raising Cain over the fact that they’ve been shut out of this debrief.” Once again the General’s voice startled her out of her thoughts. She supposed it was a sign of how mentally and physically exhausted she was that she kept drifting into her thoughts. The click of the door opening snapped everyone’s attention to the office’s entry way. A collective sigh of relief left them as Daniel and Teal’c walked in. They could finally begin, the sooner they did the sooner they could all go to bed, though she wasn’t sure how well she was going to be able to sleep tonight.

“I take it our guests are situated comfortably, away from our Tok’ra allies?” Teal’c nodded at General Hammond’s statement and replied, “Yes, General Hammond. Mollymauk seemed quite pleased with the accommodations.”

“I take it that Mollymauk is our adult guest’s name?” When Teal’c nodded in response the general waved for them to have a seat at the table so the debrief could begin. For a minute no one knew how or where to begin and everyone stared at each other in awkward silence. Finally Jack spoke.

“Sir, the mission was compromised almost from the start. We had been searching for any sign of an Ancient’s lab, weapons, another data repository that our snakey buddies though was there and were coming up empty handed. Not a single sign that there had ever been any life Ancient or otherwise on this planet. Sir, did you know that Heru’ur had a new queen? Because we didn’t, not until she dropped a Ha’tak onto the surface four hours in. Might be a good idea sir, to find out if the Tok’ra were aware of it, given who the queen is it could be considered a breach of alliance if they knew and withheld the knowledge.” If Sam hadn’t been watching General Hammond’s face closely she would have missed the look of suspicion across his face before resolving once more into the customary poker face.

“I’m almost afraid to ask O’Neill; but who is this queen?” The question was followed by Daniel’s white lipped grimace of suppressed emotion and the kind of deeply enraged expression that could almost be mistaken for indifference on Jack.

“Amaunet, sir. She apparently hooked up with Heru’ur after we removed Apophis. We ended up dodging Jaffa through the forest for an hour until they decided that it was easier to just wait for us at the stargate. Anyway we were closing in on the gate, when we heard the sound of fighting coming from ahead us. Someone had surprised our welcoming committee.” It didn’t get any easier seeing the look of rage and pain on Daniel’s face at the mention of the Goa’uld that had taken his wife as a host. She knew the general had seen it and she also knew that the man had to think about what was the best tactical decision for the SGC and, by proxy, Earth. However, that didn’t stop Sam from wanting to shout at General Hammond that they would likely never get another chance like this to free Sha’re which was one of the stipulations Danny had made in rejoining the stargate project. After all Integrity was the first core value of the Air Force for a reason and people were supposed to trust that they would honor the promises they made. Unfortunately she suspected that the general was paying more attention to the second core value of Service before Self. The world weary slump to his shoulders at the news all but confirmed what his answer would be. Though she knew that he would probably look the other way if SG-1 could manage to rescue her in a manner that didn’t point back to Earth. If only she could thing of a way to make that happen.

“I take it Mr. Mollymauk was the cause of the fighting?” Jack nodded decisively folding his hands on the table in front of himself. “Yes, sir. Near as we can tell, and what we managed to get out of him, he and the kids were gated in almost on top of the Jaffa squad left in wait for us. Sir, by the time we broke the tree line to the gate clearing he had killed two of the six Jaffa with nothing but swords and possibly a Zat or other similar weapon. You might want to have whoever is going through their things to look for it as it wasn’t obvious when we arrived.”

Sam tried not to shudder at the memory of just how terrifying it had been to break through the cover of the forest only to see a literal demon standing between her and the only way home. Every instinct she had at that moment had literally been screaming at her to turn around and run in the opposite direction as fast as she could.

“You said that he and the kids were gated in. That implies that they did not come through the gate of their own will? Is that a correct assumption O’Neill?” Jack straightened up sitting almost at attention and answered, “Yes, sir. That is a correct assumption it became quite clear during our initial confrontation that he was unaware that they had even traveled through the gate in the first place, let alone that they had traveled to another planet.”

“I see, and you said that he was able to take on six Jaffa at once, kill two with only pre-gunpowder weaponry and a Zat that you didn’t see?” The question was skeptical at best and honestly if she hadn’t witnessed it herself she would have believed Jack to be exaggerating.

“He is a very skilled and formidable warrior, to have held off so many Jaffa while at a disadvantage. If he had not had the handicap of protecting the children he might have fared better.” Teal’c’s voice was full of the same admiration that was usually only reserved for Tek’mate Bra’tac. Sam had to admit that of all of them Teal’c was probably the one best able to correctly assess Mollymauk’s skill as a warrior. That complicated expression was back on Hammond’s face as he digested this information about their guests. The fact that children were involved was highly disturbing to her and she wasn’t a parent, she couldn’t imagine how it must feel to the General who had two granddaughters just a little older than Caleb and Essek.

“General I agree with Teal’c’s assessment it would be unwise to underestimate Mollymauk; however, I believe Daniel has a theory regrading how the three of them ended up there. Also we may have an issue with one of the boys, Caleb, he freaked out at the sight of Major Carter and I’ll let Maj Fraiser fill you in on what his medical exam uncovered.” Jack’s words felt like a punch in gut. Knowing that a little kid was terrified at the sight of her never got any easier. _God, the last thing I ever intended was to harm either of them and I have no way of proving that to him._

“Which child was Caleb again?”

“The red head, sir. Essek is the one that looks elfy, doesn’t speak English, and acts generally like a hellcat when upset right down to the clawing and biting.” There was only a little bit of Jack’s trademark snark in the answer just enough to cause General Hammond to give him a very unimpressed look, before turning to Daniel.

“Dr. Jackson care to elaborate on this theory of yours that you were most adamant that our Tok’ra allies not hear.” All eyes focused on Daniel. He had kept his theory close to his chest and she was almost afraid of how fast he had put information together given how little information of substance they had regarding this whole situation.

“General, I believe that this whole mission was a set up. There never was an Ancient lab or technology on that planet. I believe that this whole mission was solely to ensure that SG-1 picked up Mollymauk and the children and brought them back here. Possibly to manufacture an opportunity to capture a Goa’uld queen among other reasons.” There was a hard light to Daniel’s eyes and a grim set to his mouth as everyone stared at him in stunned silence unsure as how to respond.

“Explain. These are some very serious accusations to level against our allies, Dr. Jackson.” General Hammond’s expression was thunderous, though Sam couldn’t tell if it was in outrage at the accusation itself or if it was fury about the possibility that it might be true. The worst part was that even without the full theory, there were so many reasons and ways that it could be not only possible but plausible. She wanted to believe that her father wouldn’t stand to be party to such deceptions and tactics. However, she was seeing less and less of the man she knew and called, ‘Dad.’ The longer he spent among the Tok’ra, as Selmac’s host, she saw less of the man she had grown up with and more of Selmac/Jacob the Tok’ra ambassador to Earth and _for_ Earth.

“Sir, as Jack said, we searched the area around the stargate and we didn’t find any signs of sentient life, let alone evidence that would point to the Ancients having used it in the past. No ruins, no signs of habitation at any point; this on a planet supposedly declared Tal Mak. That was suspicious enough; sir, we searched for four hours before were interrupted. Unless they had ranged so far from the stargate that that all traces of their civilization were erased.” Skepticism etched itself into the set of Hammond’s shoulders as he leaned forwards expectantly. Daniel’s expression didn’t change and the hard glint almost turning manic as their stare down continued.

“The other factor is Mollymauk and the children, sir. I’m almost positive that they are descended from or have Ancient DNA.” The declaration stunned the table into silence. It was outrageous, it sounded crazy and yet made a horribly plausible amount of sense.

“What makes you think that Dr. Jackson and do you have any way to prove it?” The general looked like he was about to send Daniel back to the mental institution if he didn’t come up with an answer that didn’t sound crazy. Danny just stared back and said, “Test their DNA against Jack’s, I’d be almost willing to bet that they have factors in common.”

“Mine?! Why my DNA?” Jack’s indignant yelp broke the staring contest between the Daniel and General Hammond as both turned their heads to look at him.

“Because Jack, the Ancient database reacted to you and not any of us. Also the way Thor treats you. We know the Asgard were part of the alliance of four races and that they were particularly close to the Ancients. Thor treats you as if you are the head of the SGC not General Hammond, even when he knows you’re not. He will give us concessions and leeway that we wouldn’t otherwise get if you ask for it. Another point in favor of this theory is the Nox don’t like you, Jack. They left the alliance for a reason and became pacifists that hid themselves away. There had to have been a reason for that.” All of Daniel’s points were solid. Even Hammond was grudgingly nodding, but Daniel wasn’t quite done making his point.

“As for why I think Mollymauk and the children are descended from or have Ancient DNA. All evidence points to them not being from a Goa’uld slave world, first off they didn’t recognize spoken Goa’uld or Abydonian. Two of them speak English, except it’s called Common which indicates that it’s the universal trade language for their planet. Both Mollymauk and Caleb speak at least two languages possibly more, and Essek speaks a third Mollymauk referred to as Undercommon.” Sam could tell the general wasn’t quite getting it yet, neither was Jack; however, the information was starting to resolve itself into a picture. Thinking back to Mollymauk’s statements and his story, she realized Daniel had to be right. A slave world wouldn’t allow half the things he had mentioned nor would they have allowed books and the holster harness of books that Caleb had tried to take were the most damning evidence against the slave world theory.

“As interesting as these facts are Dr. Jackson how does this relate to your accusations.” Frustration crawled across Danny’s features before settling into an expression that was eerily similar to one on Catherine Langford’s face right before she verbally destroyed a fellow academic’s argument during a presentation after hearing this same academic cheerfully slaughtering Daniel’s reputation moments before the presentation started.

“Sir, the Goa’uld don’t allow the people on slave worlds to stray too far away from the stargates. It makes them too hard to control. They would never allow them to range far enough for the language to shift. Not only did we hear them speak at least four different languages but Mollymauk implied there are countries with standing armies the moment he recognized us as a military force. Once again, he mentioned at least four. They have major cities and trade routes, and given the fact that they brought books with them through the gate, it implies that at least a good amount of the population is most likely literate and educated.” When it became clear that the general still wasn’t quite getting it. Daniel turned to Jack, practically begging the man to back him up on this theory. At this point Sam was almost sure that Daniel was correct. It made a frightening amount of sense. Add in the other out of place coincidences that had popped up this mission and it not only made sense but was disturbingly plausible.

“Think about it Jack, their friends were taken in the night, they were stopped by a stranger before they could track them down. This stranger then says they know who took them and also admits to having worked with the group that committed the kidnapping. They’re led into a reversed ambush with bad information putting them in an unwinnable fight and their new ally freezes up. Which ends with one person mortally wounded and the rest captured. I would be willing to lay even money that this Keg had a healing device on them. All they would have had to do at that point was stabilize Mollymauk enough so that he didn’t die but was in no shape to attempt escape. Wait until they’re within range of the stargate and convince his friends to cause a distraction and try to get as many people through the gate as possible wounded and children first as the most vulnerable.” _Oh god_ , she didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before. Daniel inhaled into the stunned silence and continued.

“Which in turn delivered three desperate potential hosts with Ancient DNA and no way home straight into our path. Knowing that we would bring them right back to headquarters without any other options where the Tok’ra would be waiting with offers of ‘ _we can get you home if only you agree to be hosts and provide more from your planet in payment.’_ It wouldn’t have been hard to plan, send word to an outside agent when they were getting close to the gate and they would know when to send us. Let this information reach a certain System Lord’s ears and they also just manufactured an opportunity to possibly get their hands on a Goa’uld Queen. Not just any queen no the one the SCG has been searching for since almost the beginning.” Daniel was breathing hard shaking with the force of his words. Daring General Hammond to refute any of it, especially the part about Amaunet. The challenge was perfectly clear _you either take the opportunity to get my wife back or I attempt it myself and I walk right after if I survive._ It made a horrible sense, the whole thing had been a setup. After all what were the odds that three vulnerable individuals two of which were children, which SG-1 wouldn’t be able to ignore, from a non-slave planet gate into the middle of what was supposed to be a quiet mission and a Goa’uld Queen just happens to drop in unexpectedly at the same time. Not just any queen either but the one that SG-1 in particular would refuse to cut their losses and ignore. Coincidences like that just didn’t happen, not to SG-1. Their Tok’ra allies setting them up to play stalking horse and take the fall when Heru’ur found out that his queen had gone missing, she didn’t want to believe it but at the same time she wasn’t truly surprised if they had.

“Danny, you can’t honestly think that’s true. I mean I may not like the Tok’ra but they’re our allies. We’re the only reliable source of short notice emergency hosts they have. They know that if they set us up like that the alliance would be off and they’d be cut off from that.” Sam honestly couldn’t tell if Jack was playing devil’s advocate or if he actually believed what he was saying. The look Daniel gave Jack was utterly cold and an expression she had only seen once before right before he had turned firing a shot into a tank full of Goa’uld larvae shattering the glass and leaving hundreds of them to suffocate in the air unable to breathe without the liquid.

“It doesn’t matter if the Tok’ra are our allies. They may call themselves something different but at the end of the day they are still Goa’uld. How many times Jack have they expected us to follow their laws but only follow ours when it’s convenient for them to do so? How many times has the SGC asked them not to send Tok’ra Lantash and his host Martouf? And yet every time they are included in the diplomatic party. Oh so slyly hinting that Jolinar’s memories should be brought home. If I were a betting man I would lay money on the fact that the only reason they allow Jacob Carter to act as ambassador instead of keeping him and Selmac on Vorash is that they’re hoping that he can eventually convince Sam to become a host and bring Jolinar’s memories home. Can’t you see? At heart they are still Goa’uld, and they see nothing wrong with Jolinar’s actions, with double crossing us because they don’t see us as equals in this alliance. So yes, Jack I believe that they absolutely would set us up to take the fall if meant they could their hands on hosts of Ancient descent from whom they could extract the secrets of Ancient technology. Throw in the opportunity to capture a queen; the Tok’ra would sell us out in a heartbeat.” Daniel was practically yelling at this point. Knuckles white, nostrils flared and rage writ clear in every line of his body. Sam just wanted to crawl out of her skin at the memory of what Jolinar had done to her. The feeling of being trapped in your own body as someone slash something else manipulates it and walks around pretending to be you, was terrifying and violating.

It hadn’t struck her before just how much Daniel hated the Goa’uld and yet here they were asking him to deal and negotiate with the people who had stolen, enslaved, and raped his wife. The worst part was that he did it professionally with very little complaint or outward signs of how he felt all for the chance of getting her back. And now they were going to have to tell him that were going to ignore possibly the only chance to save Sha’re because it was too risky for Earth’s precarious position in the protected planets treaty.

“Stand down, Dr. Jackson. You’ve made your point and we will consider the information. Now let’s get on with this debrief so we can all go home and get some much needed rest. Dr. Frasier what is your preliminary assessment?” General Hammond’s barked out command effectively shut down any potential argument that was brewing. Janet looked like she was torn between wanting to be sick and wanting to be anywhere but here, but she took a deep breath before reporting her findings.

“I won’t know for sure until the blood tests come back; however, they are symbiote free. In terms of baseline health, Mollymauk has some superficial injuries but is otherwise healthy. One note worthy thing is his internal temperature is extremely high, as in would be life threateningly so if he were human. However by his own admission his people run hot and barring that he is displaying none of the signs that I would expect from someone with a temperature that high.” It was a curious line Janet had to walk and Sam didn’t envy her one bit. There was only so much information she could divulge without breaking HIPPA regulations, even if the patients were aliens.

“And the children?”

“Both children are male and I would peg them at approximately five to six years of age. Essek is healthy other than an abnormally low body temperature. I would say that he’s mildly hypothermic; however, once again given that he is displaying no other outward signs of hypothermia, is lucid and extremely active I am going to have to say that it is normal for his people given that we cannot effectively communicate with him. There may be some issues since Mollymauk let us know that Essek’s people are extremely light sensitive so being in a prolonged brightly lit environment may be detrimental to his health the longer he is exposed to it.” She paused to allow that information to sink in.

“Caleb is the one I am the most concerned about. Sir, there’s no easy way to say this, he’s undernourished, he has signs of severe child abuse, is suffering from severe post traumatic stress disorder, and I strongly believe that he is at the very least mildly autistic. In the case of malnourishment I would estimate that it was worse somewhere between five to seven months ago, when he suddenly had a steady reliable source of food which was bringing him back up to a healthy weight and then within the last couple of weeks that was disrupted and his system started cannibalizing his fat stores again. Add into the fact that his temperature would indicate that he’s running a mild fever; however, given the other issues he has and the fact that his companions also have temperature differentials I am waiting for the blood test results come back to see if he has a heightened immune response before attempting to treat it.” The general looked like he had aged twenty years in a few minutes just hearing Janet’s assessment. The outraged expression that Jack had been wearing at the start of this debrief was back and Sam was sure that he was going to try and talk General Hammond into taking custody of Caleb away from Mollymauk. Which would be a very bad idea in her opinion, because if she had to hazard a guess Mollymauk stop at nothing to protect those kids and get them back home.

“Ladies and gentlemen we shall table this discussion until tomorrow when we can better figure out how to handle this situation.” Standing up General Hammond ushered everyone away from the table and towards the office door. Before Colonel O’Neill could exit the room she overheard Hammond say “Colonel, stay back a moment.”

*********

“Sir?” Jack didn’t know what General Hammond wanted but he was sure that he wasn’t going to like it.

“Colonel O’Neill, we cannot afford to lose Dr. Jackson and I’m afraid after his outburst today, that if we cannot find a way to resolve this issue we will lose him. O’Neill find a way that we can rescue his wife without it tracking back to Earth.” The general clapped him on the shoulder and the two of them walked out of the room turning the lights off. Neither man saw the small brown and black spotted cat with glowing blue eyes creep out from under the conference room table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will include Mollymauk chatting with Essek and finally coming face to face with his patron. Also the blood tests come back with some interesting results.


	9. When I Find Myself in Times of Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Molly finally meets his Patron face to face (so to speak), and the blood test analyses come back to some interesting results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am beginning to think that the longer this story goes on the more each chapter word count is going to spin out of control. I once again had to split this chapter into two. Fingers crossed that the next chapter doesn't continue the trend and also need to be split so that we can finally check in with what's going on with the rest of the Mighty Nein while this is going on. 
> 
> Once again thank you to all of the lovely, lovely readers who reviewed the last chapter it absolutely makes my day when I receive them and I do go back and frequently re-read all of them.

Mollymauk stared at the Drow, something wasn’t adding up and while he couldn’t address it while in the presence of their captors, saviors (Molly wasn’t sure which they were yet), now that they were alone behind closed doors it seemed like as good a time as any. The last he knew Caleb didn’t know Undercommon, and yet he had told this Essek to take him and escape. Granted it had been in Zemnian and he wasn’t entirely sure he trusted the translation that Daniel had given, but still that implied a level familiarity with the Drow that seemed unlikely from just a few days. However, given the knowledge that he had likely died, again, and the possibility he had been dead longer than he originally thought; which was becoming a rather uncomfortable suspicion, then he couldn’t be sure of what Caleb might have picked up in the meantime.

“I’m going to hazard a guess that you actually understand more Common than you’re actually letting on.” Essek stared at him blankly for a second before crawling down off the bed very carefully, Molly noticed the tiniest bit of a wince when his feet hit the floor, and walking calmly to the fancy water closet attached to the room. Curious as to what was going he watched as the Drow struggled to reach the taps on the water basin, finally reaching over and turning the tap on when Essek let out an aggrieved noise. He wasn’t sure what he expected but it wasn’t for the boy to turn around and head back to the bed. This was getting interesting and was certainly going a long way to confirming the suspicion that Essek much like Caleb was supposed to be much older. He watched the child clamber up onto the bed next to Caleb and feel around under the coat the until he clearly found one of Caleb’s hands. _Hmm, well points towards it’s been longer than I thought._ A pang of regret twinging in Molly’s chest as he reassessed how well the two likely knew each other and the likely relationship there. Only when his hand was entwined with Caleb’s did Essek open his mouth and speak.

“Yes, I do.” The answer was in lightly accented Common and not entirely unexpected but definitely a checkmark in the box of him being like Caleb and not being the proper age. When no other answers were forthcoming Molly huffed a sigh through his nose. _Gods are all wizards cagey bastards who never wasted more words than what was the most direct and least informational answer._ Conveniently forgetting that he himself did the same thing on a regular basis though to the opposite extreme of cramming as many words in as he could and still saying nothing of substance.

“You’re actually much older than you look currently aren’t you?” The smug cat-like smile that curled upon the wizard’s lips was all the confirmation that he needed. It was a far too adult expression for a child. Alright that meant he needed to ask about the iridescent powder that he had seen smudged on Essek’s fingers. “What did you cast on Caleb while I was busy telling tales to our _oh so gracious_ hosts?”

There was just a hint of a threat in those words after all Caleb had been alternating between attempting to summon Frumpkin and being utterly non-responsive since whatever spell had been cast. If he needed to get rid of Essek to protect Caleb, he wouldn’t feel great about it but his wizard’s safety had to come first. The threat didn’t go unnoticed if the way a white eyebrow arched over an unimpressed expression diminished only slightly by the dark not glass lenses obscuring the Drow’s eyes. “A temporary bulwark for his mind. It should have helped him filter and process his memories with less….immediacy. But this spell was not meant for dealing with spell backlash such as this.”

The explanation wasn’t reassuring nor was the was Essek’s free hand gesturing at himself and Caleb; however, the poorly masked concern in his voice at least assured Mollymauk that the Drow wasn’t an intentional threat to his wizard. It answered one question at least, though he was steadfastly avoiding the obvious question of how long Caleb had known Essek, something told him that he didn’t want to know the answer. Instead he decided to ignore the little voice which sounded suspiciously like Jester that wanted to ask the question.

“And what pray tell was this spell meant for, my friend?” The silky purr of threat creeping into his tone stronger this time, as the thought that the mental bulwark may have accidentally done more damage than helped. It earned an exasperated head shake and Essek raised the hand not entwined with Caleb’s to knead the bridge of his nose as best he could around the glasses currently perched upon it.

“For those of Dynasty who are fortunate enough to be consecuted the process of anamnesis is not always a smooth one; particularly, if their previous life ended traumatically or they had a traumatic upbringing. This spell is a stop gap for the individual’s mind to prevent them from being overwhelmed. It only lasts eight hours as anamnesis is said to be rather episodic. It’s a simple enough spell, just a little more powerful than a cantrip but the material component can be…cost prohibitive.” Most of the explanation went right over Molly’s head but the gist was clear that is should have helped not harmed Caleb so something else was going on with his tiny wizard. A memory rose unbidden of Caleb snapping Frumpkin into existence and then snapping him away again. _Snap, pause, snap_ , the same repeating pattern Caleb had been performing until they had reached the room. He had been mostly unresponsive just like…reaching out he carefully pulled the coat off of Caleb’s head to reveal the familiar sight of a vacant stare and blue eyes filmed over white. If he looked close enough he swore that he could see the shadowy image of feet gathered around what had to be a table reflected in those eyes.

“You sneaky son of a bitch. I know that you can’t hear me right now Mr. Caleb; but, when you come back to your senses you and I are going to have a talk about not scaring me half to death, yeah?.” The words were flavored with laughter. The only thing left to do was wait for his wizard to return to his own mind with whatever he had learned about their hosts. The three of them sat in silence as they waited, neither he nor Essek saying anything. All too soon Mollymauk got antsy, he had never liked being confined in windowless spaces for very long and silence only made it worse. He started to remember the sensation and taste of crumbling dirt in his mouth as his lungs screamed for air, of his eyes crusted shut from it being caked across his eyelids, and the gritty texture of it between his fingers and impacted under his talon-like nails.

Wrenching his thoughts away from that panic inducing memory spiral, Molly looked for something else to do. Normally he would take out his Tarot deck and see what fortunes he could coax out of the cards without deliberately skewing it in his favor, just for the fun of it. But his cards would be in his coat and he hesitated to take the coat entirely off of Caleb in an attempt to find it. Which left pacing and the acrobatic stretching routines that Mona and Yuli had shown him, since he didn’t have either of his swords. Though with bruised ribs the stretching routines would probably be a bad idea; even still he probably would have attempted it, except he couldn’t afford to foolishly further injure himself in such an uncertain situation. Thankfully for his sanity Caleb came back to his senses with a final snap and a troubled expression on his face. 

“Well, Well Mr. Caleb find out anything interesting? Also darling please try not scare me like that again. I thought you blanked out on me for a good bit and it had me worried.” The troubled expression didn’t leave Caleb’s face and he made an aborted movement to scratch at his arms only to be brought up short by Essek’s hand still entwined in his. Giving the Drow a confused and slightly apprehensive look, Caleb seemed to shrug it off in favor of trying to put together what he had managed to spy through Frumpkin’s eyes and ears. This exchange didn’t escape Molly’s notice and he reassessed the nature of of Essek’s relationship to Caleb, again. Close but not close enough for casual touching; but then again, Caleb wasn’t always open to casual touches from any of them other than Nott so that didn’t mean much.

“Ich…They…Common ist schwer.” Caleb growled face twisting into a frustrated scowl, his free hand scrunching in the fabric of his over sized shirt. Now Mollymauk didn’t need to know Zemnian understand that sentence, and oh how he could relate to that feeling. It had taken far to long to learn common after the first time he had come back from the dead, and now thinking back he wondered if it was because his first language was Infernal. Still it meant that he knew what to say to the now visibly hyperventilating wizard. Kneeling in front of him Molly, placed a gentle hand on Caleb’s, “Hey now, Mr. Caleb, relax, breathe. We have time, collect the words as best you can. It’s all right.”

To his relief Caleb mimicked the pattern of his breath and started to calm down. Once again Mollymauk was astounded by Caleb’s memory as he began describing and at times reciting the entire conversation slash briefing he overheard almost word for word in slow, halting and heavily accented Common. It sounded as if their hosts had found themselves in an uneasy and unbalanced alliance with this rogue faction of Goa’uld that called themselves Tok’ra and not an alliance unbalanced in their favor. The fact that they thought that Keg was a Tok’ra host (and didn’t that make his skin crawl it was bad enough having fragments of Lucien’s memories nothing concrete just feelings and instincts; but, to willingly agree to have something else inhabit you capable of taking over your body that was insane) was beyond any conclusions he thought that they could have leapt to given his story. The idea that they were descended from Ancient beings, apparently so ancient that their race didn’t have a name just a descriptor, was wild but hey it would make great fodder for his next outrageous tavern tale. Quite frankly the whole idea was hilariously weird and if he weren’t stranded on a plane far, far from his own with only a single, spell altered member of his family and a relative stranger with no way to get home he probably would have found it enjoyable.

When Caleb got to the portion about the conclusions Dr. Frasier had drawn from the medical exams his voice went flat. It was unnerving to hear his friend’s childlike voice so devoid of inflection. Then again as he described what she had said about Caleb himself he understood. No one likes to hear that someone else thinks you’re damaged or broken in some way and to hear a stranger say it, well that’s even worse. Add in the fact that every member of the Mighty Nein was aware that their hodge podge family’s wizard had self-esteem issues, bordering on self loathing, and Molly was not happy with the fact that Caleb had overheard it. The almost terrified glance Caleb gave Essek from the corner of his eye during the recitation meant something but he didn’t know what just yet. Honestly it cemented his opinion that the only ones at all worth talking to were Daniel Jackson, Teal’c, and possibly Samantha though the law master was still out on that one. Given the news about Daniel’s wife, well Molly had strong opinions on it and it seemed like Caleb did too. If he could find some way to return his wizard and Essek to their proper ages, well then maybe just maybe they could repay Daniel for his assistance. He was so busy worrying about how to deal with the fall out of how overhearing that assessment would effect their wizard and the possibility of helping Danny that he almost missed Caleb’s confused question as if it had only just occurred to him.

“Why did they think Keg was there?” _Right, damn, so much for it not being a long time then. How the fuck do I answer this?_ Biting his lip and ignoring the anxious churning in his stomach. Gods he didn’t ask for confirmation of his suspicion. _What was that saying ‘ignorance is bliss’ I’d really rather stay ignorant, thank you very much_.

“Well Mr. Caleb, I had to tell them something and the last thing I remember was, well, Glory Run Road.” It wasn’t answer, not really and he wasn’t looking for an answer or confirmation in turn. _Just let me have, just once._ Unfortunately whatever Gods might have been listening had turned deaf ears to his plea, because Caleb’s confused expression smoothed out into that dead expression of a few minutes earlier and he said in that skin crawlingly flat tone, “Oh…right, you died. I buried you.”

He was definitely going to be sick, damn it all to the nine hells, he was really fucking lucky he hadn’t had to dig himself out of his own grave again wasn’t he. Fuck, he didn’t want to owe that creepy disembodied voice anything, but if he was putting things together correctly then he had been dead a lot longer than even he had estimated.

“We left you a note,” There was just a hint of a guilty plea in Caleb’s voice, “We didn’t want you to think that you’d been abandoned if you came back.” Oh, that, that made the sick feeling ease, finally settling into something warm and tears threatened to well up and fall. Giving his wizard a shaky smile, Molly just managed to choke out, “It’s been a long day, let’s get some sleep. Think we can manage that Mr. Caleb? Am I taking floor or do you want me on the bed with both of you?”

“Bed.” The answer was immediate and decisive not even allowing Essek, who had stayed silent watching the entire exchange with a faintly bemused expression, to answer. Turning to the Drow Molly asked the same question, “The bed will be fine.”

Caleb slithered out from under the coat and off the bed something clutched in his hand. As he began a very familiar circuit of the room, Molly realized that it was his spool of silver thread. Suddenly that last desperate dive for his book harness made sense, it hadn’t been the books but his spell components he had been after. Once again he was reminded that Nott and Caleb had traveled together longer than most of the Mighty Nein. Long enough for him to teach her magic, they never thought about what he had been learning from her.

Alarm spell set Caleb scrambled back up onto the bed and seemingly herding Essek closest to the wall, which if Molly took the side closest to and facing the door, which he had been planning on anyway put the Drow in the most protected position. He still couldn’t figure out just what the relationship between the two wizards was; everything was complicated by the fact that neither wizard was their proper age, and he suspected that their current age was affecting their reactions to things. After all he highly doubted that an adult, even one trapped in a child’s body, would throw a biting, kicking, and scratching tantrum if they weren’t at least somewhat influenced by a child’s thought process and almost non-existent impulse control. He flipped the strange little white switch on the wall by the door which extinguished the lights plunging the room into near total darkness, broken only by the steady red glow of the numbers from the box on the bedside table. Turning back he could see Caleb pulling the covers over himself and Essek. Molly could also see that the sheets were tucked in at the foot of the bed. That was going to have to be fixed, he would overheat otherwise.

Once the sheets were untucked and he had thrown his coat and shirt over the back of the desk chair, Molly finally crawled into bed facing the door. Anything that trigged the alarm spell would have to go through him first. He felt his tail drape over Caleb’s waist and wrap around his wizard’s wrist as the day finally caught up with him and he drifted off to sleep.

*********

Sleep was such a strange concept, academically he knew that other races needed sleep. It just seemed so vulnerable and it wasted so much time. Essek observed the other two individuals in the bed as his own trance eluded him. Mostly due to the fact that the dazzle migraine was only now starting to fade and this place was still so very, very loud. The infernal incessant buzzing hum coming from the walls combined with the heavy footsteps coming from both above and outside these walls made it impossible to find the concentration to allow his mind to clear and drift into a trance state. His gaze fell on Caleb, who looked utterly relaxed, no traces of the anxiety or fear that he had been showing just hours earlier. _It is curious_ , he thought, _even in his sleep he’s trying to protect both of us._

Caleb’s arm was flung carelessly across Essek’s waist, whilst his other hand pressed the spade of the Tiefling’s tail directly over the amulet the Empire wizard wore. After today’s events it was strange to think that he had ever thought the human was a spy for the Empire. Logically it had been a valid suspicion after all, he couldn’t be seen or heard by scrying spells nor tracked with locating spells. Any person or object he touched similarly disappeared from view the amulet considering them an extension of Caleb. He was reluctant to give information about himself and despite Essek’s best efforts he had been unable to track down any records of a Caleb Widogast in the Empire. A man operating under a false name, who admitted to being trained as a Scourger.

Though given the revelations of the past few hours he knew exactly why Caleb had been so secretive about his past. Well some answers had high prices, he knew this fact very well, after all his trade and position depended on ferreting out said answers and secrets. He couldn’t afford to be affected by the information he found out. Had he known ahead of time about the fragile nature of Caleb’s mental state, well he still would have taught him, he just would have also taught him the safeguards for his mind as well. The other wizard was far too talented for Essek to not want to see what he would be able to achieve with just the basic principles theory of Dunamancy. The way that the other had just dissociated had been one of the most terrifying and enraging things he had experienced. It truly shook him to the core at just how bone deep his rage had been at just how badly the Empire had mistreated one of the most promising wizards he had ever had the pleasure of meeting let alone training. How much more impressive would he be if Caleb were able to carry himself with the confidence and demeanor his talent and skill earned.

If the Empire was stupid enough to callously and carelessly break and throw away such a talented spellcaster like one would get rid of an unwanted toy; well their mistake was the Dynasty’s gain. And while he still wasn’t entirely sure of the rest of the motley group that Caleb called friends, the wizard, at least, if he was not completely loyal to the Dynasty was loyal to the people he cared about. It still made him a liability but a predictable one. As soon as they were back in Rosohna, he would begin teaching Caleb the safeguards he neglected to teach in the first place. Though he had not been aware that the other wizard had the ability to see and hear through his familiar’s senses. It wasn’t a common magic in Dynasty, the majority of wizard’s specialized in Dunamancy and left the Empire to their own magics. He would have to warn the military and the Bright Queen about this potential security breach upon their return. At least it seemed that it had obvious signs, though whether the signs were also visible on the familiar was another question. Perhaps Caleb would be willing to share the knowledge.

There was nothing he could do about any of this right now. The best he could do was try and achieve a restful trance in spite of the damnable noise.

*********

“Well it certainly took you long enough to get here don’t you know it’s rude to keep a person waiting?” Molly looked around unsure as to how he had gotten here. It looked like one of the tents from the carnival, at least superficially, the tents had never had tapestries festooning the cloth walls and taking the place of rugs, nor had they had multitudes of over stuffed pillows and cushions piled on the ground in every color and luxurious fabric imaginable. A practical orgy of ostentatiousness and comfort. Glancing up he saw a Marquesian style mosaic lantern of multicolored glass hung from the center supports of the tent scattering a kaleidoscope of colors across the fabric draped walls of the tent flickering in time with the lantern’s flame.

“And now you’re ignoring me. My, my you are a very rude individual aren’t you, pet?” The speaker’s voice was ripe with mock offense and laughter, much like Jester’s was when teasing others; however, there was an undercurrent to it that threatened to become very real offense if Molly didn’t acknowledge the voice’s owner shortly. Though now that he was paying attention it was the same voice that had been talking to him since he woke up on that platform. Spinning around to face the speaker he saw a very tall Elf regally sprawled across a throne of cushions and pillows with very long curly hair the same copper color of a fox’s coat. Though the longer Molly looked the other appeared more like someone had taken the idea of an Elf and exaggerated all the features that people thought of as Elvish. His ears extended far beyond his skull curling upwards just the slightest bit, almond shaped eyes large and canted just enough to offset high angular cheekbones that tapered down into a narrow pointed chin. The startling green eyes were almost cat-like in color and vibrancy, almost distracting from the eyeteeth that were hairs breadth off from being true fangs hiding in his smile. The fingers tapping against the cushions were just a little too long with nails whose edges belied their manicured state and were in fact much sharper than the they appeared. For a brief moment Molly thought of Essek’s sharper than average nails and fanged eyeteeth wondering if Drow were just a little closer to their Fey ancestry than other races of Elves. Wariness trailed a cold chill down his back as something whispered in the back of his mind, _Archfey._

“I take it that I have you to thank for not having to claw my way out of my grave a second time?” Molly managed to keep his voice light through sheer force of will. The smirking smile widened in a cat-like grin that was at once both predatory and delighted in equal measure as the lounging Archfey leaned forward in his makeshift throne, scattering a few of the throw pillows and cushions onto the floor.

“You’re not grateful? It took quite a lot to bring you back.” Again that playful tone with just a hint of an edge. A memory fragment slipped into his head a voice telling him, “Never lie to one of the Fey, for they are quick to anger and slow to forgive and they despise liars above all else.”

“Oh not at all, more like extremely relieved. Just wondering, why me? After all I’m beginning to believe that I was dead for a bit longer than than I thought,” he airily responded, “That can’t of been easy, what makes me so special?”

Green robes accented with blue rustled as long limbs shifted from their lordly sprawl to comfortable tailor’s seat revealing now bare feet with longer than average toes. “Oh, bravo. You do pick up things fast don’t you, Mollymauk Tealeaf? I had wondered. To answer your question of why you. Well someone screamed for help and I was able to answer, simple as that. And no it wasn’t easy, though I did get a little help from one who wasn’t allowed to intervene directly. You may call me Artagan.”

Well given that Caleb was involved it could have been anyone of his friends that called for help, though Jester was the most likely. Which would make the one who helped but couldn’t interfere directly the Traveler most likely. Hopefully that meant that they had escaped the Iron Shepherds unharmed. “Well that does make me feel a bit better about things. Though there’s always a catch. Nobody does something like this for free. No offense meant but I’m not fond of surprises that can bite me in the ass.”

Thankfully no anger or offense showed on Artagan’s angular face, though that didn’t necessarily mean anything. The Archfey chuckled slightly resting his chin in right hand, elbow perched on his knee. “None taken, a wise man knows not to accept gifts from the Fey without asking for our terms first. The catch as you so charmingly put it is that from the moment you told me ‘yes’ I became your patron and until you die your soul is in my hands. I may ask you to complete tasks for me or I may call you to the Feywild. Whatever I ask of you as long as you complete it I will loan you the power to protect your friends and destroy your enemies.”

Oh dear, that, that was quite the catch, and boded ill for Fjord given his patron didn’t seem as “friendly” or “understanding” as Artagan appeared to be. However, Molly clearly remembered being given the choice and accepting it, no backing out now and honestly he didn’t regret making that choice. “That is quite the catch, but I don’t regret my choice. Still I know beggars can’t be choosers, is there any way that you can guarantee that these tasks of yours never put me in direct odds of keeping my friends safe. Would you be willing to swear it on your true name?”

It was risky, he knew asking an Archfey to swear on their true name; but, he wasn’t about to let his decision backfire on his family. Artagan waved his left hand dismissively, “Yes, yes. I swear on my true name that my tasks and goals will not directly put you at odds with keeping your friends safe. Now I know it couldn’t be helped, but in the future please don’t give your pact blade away.”

The golden bladed scimitar materialized in the Artagan’s hands as the Archfey flowed to his feet. Stepping into Mollymauk’s space he held the blade out in offering.

“Come I dislike the thought of you being unarmed among these people and I especially dislike the threat the Tok’ra and Goa’uld present. Let me show you how to call your blade to you.” Taking the proffered blade, Molly held it out in front of him with his right hand as he had seen Fjord do on many occasions. This action earned him a quicksilver smile that crinkled green eyes into a fox like expression.

“Good, good you have the basic idea down already. Now simply sense the power in the blade, memorize the feel of it, and simply imagine nudging it to the left of reality a bit. It’s still there, still accessible; just waiting for in the ether for you to call it to your hand once more.” It took him a few time to get it right. The sensation of nudging the blade out of the material plane and back, once he did manage it successfully, felt oddly familiar to him.

“Perfect, pet, our time is beginning to run short so let me show you one more thing that might be helpful.” An elegant wave of his hand caused two stationary sword pells to appear in the tent. Another flick of his wrist and a slender basket hilted sword with a blade like a twilight sky materialized in Artagan’s hand. “Now if ever you find yourself fighting in close quarters and the enemy is clustered together much as they were on the platform then channel your magic into either your main hand weapon or your off hand, it matters not which, just so,” he paused allowing Molly to see the razor thin eerie green glow dancing along the blade’s edge before swinging it at the nearest pell, and as it connected saying, “and you as well.”

At the words that green glow leapt from the impact of the blade to the second pell becoming a baleful unearthly green conflagration of fire that burned fiercely for a minute or two before revealing charred wood absent of any and all padding. “It shouldn’t interfere with your rites, however I cannot guarantee that fact. Come try to master this before you must wake.”

Mollymauk held the image of that razor thin green glow limning the scimitar’s edge, feeling the potential spark that wanted to jump and burn. “Good, swing and when you hit verbally announce your next target or the spark will dissipate.”

Opening eyes he didn’t know he’d closed Molly swung the pact blade, green trailing the tip ever so faintly, at the set of pells that had appeared in front of him. The impact of the blade hitting the first pell jarred his elbow and as soon as he felt it he snarled, “Fuck you,” at the second pell and felt that spark ignite as it burst into the same eerie green flame.

“Pefect, it seems our time has run out, pet. Your first task is to make sure that they don’t remove Caleb’s necklace by any means necessary.” Artagan’s words were rushed and Molly wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that bit regarding Caleb’s necklace; however, it was at least something that he was willing to do. The tent abruptly started to dissolve and Molly opened his eyes just as Caleb started shaking him. The door had broken the boundary of the silver thread.

*********

Yawning Janet Fraiser accepted the folder containing the blood test results from the lab technician, before heading to her office. It would still be another day before the DNA comparisons that Daniel wanted would be finished. Yesterday had been a late night, made even later by a stop at the nearest Wal-mart to the Mountain on her way home to pick up clothing that fit for the children. Thank god that they were a 24 hour store, even if all the crazies seemed to populate it at that time of night and into the wee hours of the morning. She hadn’t been the only one to have had that thought, she’d seen O’Neill in the children’s shoe section looking at a pair velcro shoes with light up soles. Never before had she been more glad that it had been mandatory for her to have a copy of the DSM in her office when she had been assigned to Flight Med prior to this job. She’d had to explain to Jack that children with autism often had sensory processing issues. Most often manifesting as a sensitivity to texture, light, and sound. She’d been able to point him towards Dreft laundry detergent and recommended that he wash and dry any clothes he bought for the boys two or three times before giving them to either child just to make sure that any sizing or stiffeners had been washed out and the fabric was soft.

Punching in her code on the cipher lock she pushed the handle down and dropped the bag of clothing she had bought down on top of her desk. She felt like if she sat down she was going to fall asleep, instead Janet leaned against the desk’s edge easing most of the weight off of her feet and started flipping through the reports. Essek’s was on top and fairly straight forward. He was healthy no signs of a depressed immune system, the only anomaly was that he had lower than average vitamin D levels but given that his people were extremely photosensitive that wasn’t surprising. No extra notes, scribbled in the margins or post-its stuck to the report. She set it beside her on the desk, Janet had a feeling the DNA comparison was where things were going to get interesting where he was concerned.

The next report seemed to be Mollymauk’s and already she could see a neon yellow post-it stuck to the bottom of report. Starting at the top as indicated by the extra note his results were much more unusual. Tests revealed a highly aggressive immune system, she wasn’t sure if it was a side effect of having such a high internal base temperature making his body inimical the majority of the known Earth diseases or if his race was just naturally resistant to disease. Whatever it was she wished that she could bottle and synthesize it because from the test results she was reading his immune system could chew through most diseases without issue. Curious about the post-it stuck to the bottom of the report, she peeled it off. The note said that Exo-Bio had taken a portion of the left over blood sample to continue testing as it showed a tendency to vaporize when exposed to the air in small quantities, and also phosphoresce when exposed to certain electromagnetic frequencies and fields. Odd but not overtly harmful, she could understand why Exo-Bio was having a field day experimenting with it. She might have to stop by to see it for herself later today. After she’s had at least three cups of coffee.

Finally the test she was most concerned about and she could see where someone had red flagged something at the bottom of Caleb’s report with one of the post-it flag tabs. Her heart sank, she had been afraid of something like this. Starting at the top just out of habit and a desire to avoid bad news as long as possible. It read pretty standard for someone who was severely undernourished, low iron and all other vitamin and mineral levels were low. Standard and easily fixed with food and supplements. His body had started to go into ketosis, and was burning his fat stores for energy, again given the state of his body that was expected. What was not expected was the normal immune response given the fact that his base line internal temperature indicated he was running a mild fever at 102 degrees Fahrenheit. His base temperature must be higher than Earth children. It was interesting that both Mollymauk and Caleb had higher than usual baseline temperatures while Essek’s was far below normal. She wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that his people were photosensitive and most likely avoided light. She couldn’t bring herself to ignore the last line of the report, the one flagged in red. As her eyes flicked over over that line her blood ran cold and the bottom dropped out of her stomach, suddenly wide awake as adrenaline flooded her system.

_Subject tested positive for trace amounts of Naquadah._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering what the spell that Artagan taught Mollymauk it is a cantrip called Green Flame Blade. 
> 
> Also for those not familiar with the Stargate universe, Naquadah is a superdense element that has a quartzite structure and greatly amplifies energy. It is the element that the Stargates are made out of and because of it's energy amplification properties is used by the Goa'uld to power everything from hyperdrives and satellites to staff weapons, bombs, and their Sarcophogai (a healing chamber that can bring the recently deceased back to life)


	10. It's Only Love not a Time Bomb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mollymauk learns one of the drawbacks to having an Archfey as a patron, scared people make stupid decisions, and Sg-1 is ready to murder Trent even if they don't know who he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really struggled with this chapter and I ended up deciding that some of what I wrote would have to go into the chapter after next as it didn't really fit with what was going on in this chapter. Shout out to the readers who left me wonderful wall of text reviews, they give me life. And yes your theories about Naquadah are very very accurate.

Heart pounding in her chest through the icy grip of fear, Janet glanced back up to the top of the report; eyes searching out Caleb’s potassium levels. _Please don’t let this be a repeat of Cassie_ , she prayed. They had gotten lucky with her adopted daughter and that the nanite bomb had reabsorbed into Cassandra’s body the farther they moved her from the stargate. His potassium levels were very low, not dangerously so, but whether that was a result of his malnutrition or something else, they couldn’t take that chance. Picking up the phone she dialed Colonel O’Neill’s number. _Please pick up, God please be there._

“SG-1, Colonel O’Neill. How can I help you doc?” Jack’s voice echoed in her handset. Janet breathed a sigh of relief. “Hey doc, what’s wrong?”

Concern and wariness warred for supremacy in Jack’s voice. “Colonel O’Neill I need all three of our guests brought to the infirmary immediately.”

“Talk to me Janet, what’s going on?” There was no mistaking the undercurrent of ‘what shit has hit the fan now’ to his voice. She took a breath that shook more than she’d like and answered.

“Caleb’s blood tested positive for trace amounts of Naquadah, and his potassium levels are low.” There was silence on Jack’s end of the line when suddenly he swore.

“You think we’re dealing with another Nirrti special, like with Cassie?” There was a barely there catch in Jack’s voice, buried under military bearing. Both Caleb and Essek, she suddenly realized, were only a few years younger than Charlie had been when he died. It was no wonder that Jack had gotten attached, to Caleb at least, so quickly. Unfortunately it also meant that he wasn’t thinking clearly when it came to either boy. Janet made a note to discuss that possibility with General Hammond at the earliest possibly opportunity.

“I’m praying it’s not and that there’s another reason why he tested positive for Naquadah when Mollymauk and Essek didn’t; but, our luck historically has never been that good. You said it yourself they went through two stargates in quick succession which accelerates the rate of nanite replication. It’s something we can’t afford to ignore.” Her voice sounded as tired as she felt, a low grade feeling of dread seeped its way into her bones. She highly doubted that Mollymauk would allow them to take Caleb away from the Mountain where he couldn’t go. After all unlike Teal’c they couldn’t just stick a knit watch cap on his head and say he’s from Canada.

“Got it, doc. We’re in luck, General’s currently reading the riot act to our snakey friends. I’ll have them there in fifteen.” A grim note in the clipped precise response. Hanging up the phone she pinched the bridge of her nose to stave off the tension headache blooming behind her eyes. _If it isn’t one thing it’s another_ , Janet thought as she stood to get the x-ray machine prepped.

*********

Molly slid his left arm down to dangle off the bed; fingers slightly clenched as he reached for the feeling of his pact blade hovering just out of reach. The sensation of a hand on his wrist broke his concentration at the same time Artagan’s voice chuckled in his ear. “Not so fast, pet. Your blade isn’t necessary, there’s no threat. Besides it’s more entertaining if you don’t reveal your trump at the start of the hand.”

Gritting his teeth, Molly relaxed his hand letting the scimitar go unsummoned and pretending to still be asleep as the door swung open wider. A sliver of light from the hallway crept slowly over the silver thread. He was going to have words with his patron about just what the Archfey’s definition of dangerous was as opposed to merely entertaining. His gut feeling said that his definition and Artagan’s definition were wildly different. The door swung wide and the room lit up with bright light, drawing a venomous hiss and a curse in Undercommon from Essek; while Caleb crushed the spaded tip of his tail in a panicked grip. _Ow, Caleb, you’re lucky I like you._

“Housekeeping,” an unwelcomingly familiar voice called out in a sing-song tone. Of course it would be his least favorite human, because he hadn’t dealt enough with that asshole yesterday.

“Colonel Jack O’Neill, you are not housekeeping.” Teal’c’s deep voice was matter of fact, and irritation flooded through Molly’s body. The tenseness in O’Neill’s posture relaxed for a moment as he turned an exasperated glance at the other man.

“Teal’c it’s a ref…nevermind I’ll explain it later.” Molly pushed himself up into a sitting position careful to keep both wizards mostly blocked by his body. A blur of white out of the corner of his eye and the sensation of pressure against his right cheek told Mollymauk that the pillow he had squished between his face and his horn had followed him.

“What in the nine hells do you want?” he growled, not liking the feeling of Caleb shaking behind his back. _Had it been more than eight hours? For that matter how many times is Essek able to cast that spell?_ Pillow temporarily forgotten as a slew of intrusive thoughts began to spiral through his head.

“Um, you’ve got a little something on your face, right about there.” O’Neill commented slyly, avoiding the question, while gesturing at the right side of his face. Ripping the pillow from it’s position wedged against his face, he winced as he felt the charms and chains tangle in his hair. Molly glared angrily at the man. Biting back an instinctive sarcastic and angry retort, he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted so easily. So far they had barged into the room without warning or explanation and now O’Neill was cracking wise about the only way to comfortably sleep on his side. He could feel his tail trying to lash; however, Caleb still had the tip in an uncomfortably tight grasp.

“Mr. Caleb, can I have my tail back, please. I’m sure they will tell us why they felt need to frighten us all out of a sound sleep.” It was petty and passive aggressive, but he really didn’t care. If the assholes didn’t didn’t want to be guilted for scaring children then they should have thought of that sooner. There was a period of awkward silence as a guilty expression crept over O’Neill’s face and the tenseness locked up the man’s body again. A nerve jumping in his jaw. Finally it was Teal’c who responded, “The tests on your blood came back. Caleb’s blood tested positive for a particular element. It is imperative that we get you all to the infirmary for further tests as quickly as possible.”

The unpleasant sensation of ice water trickling down his spine accompanied that announcement as his mind started racing in a million directions. Caleb let his tail go suddenly and a quick glance behind him revealed that his wizard had started scratching at his arms. Luckily it looked like Essek was quick enough on the uptake to reach around the other to grip Caleb’s wrists. Pale gold peered over the rims of dark lensed spectacles, meeting his in silent understanding. At least that was one thing, while he might not completely trust the Drow, it seemed that they were in agreement that they would do whatever they could to protect Caleb.

“Look put your shirt on and let’s go. Doc’s waiting in medical for you.” O’Neill snapped out seemingly dropping the sarcasm. Now that he was looking for it he could see the ginger way the man was barely holding it together and the fear filled glances he was directing Caleb’s way. _Well that’s ominous_ , he thought.

“Relax, pet, it’s not what they think. Though the truth is just as disturbing.” _Not helping_. Struggling not to let the man’s fear drive his own anxiety, Molly tossed off the blankets realized that he had been too tired to take his boots off before crawling into bed last night. Well hopefully they hadn’t been too grimy, if not he might be able to bargain some soap to wash them out of these people. Crossing the room in three strides, he grabbed his shirt off the back of the chair. He winced as he pulled it on as still slightly sore ribs protested the action. It was an afterthought to swing his coat on and return to the bed where both pint sized wizards were still huddled together. Essek was continuing to restrain Caleb’s wrists, preventing him from scratching at his arms.

“Okay, I’m going to be carrying you again, is that alright with both of you? Neither of you have shoes and I don’t want you to get hurt.” Molly kept his voice low and gentle as if he actually was speaking to a young child. Though in Caleb’s case he wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t. He watched the pair closely for any signs of distress, Caleb more so than Essek. Caleb nodded solemnly and tugged his hands free from Essek’s; reaching out slightly towards Mollymauk. He couldn’t see any of that iridescent powder on either Caleb’s forehead nor on the Drow’s fingers. Hopefully that meant that the spell was still in effect. Though that would mean that they hadn’t had enough rest, but now that he thought about it the spell had been cast long before they had actually slept. This whole windowless place was messing with his sense of time.

It took little effort to lift his wizard onto his hip. Honestly, and bit worryingly, it felt like Caleb had gotten lighter since the previous night. For a moment he almost forgot that Essek was pretending not to know Common as they stared at each other awkwardly waiting for the other to do something. Finally Caleb solved the problem as he turned towards the other wizard and mumbled something in Undercommon. Essek shuffled forwards on the bed closer to Mollymauk, allowing himself to be picked up. _Today is going to be a long day. As soon as we’re done with these medical tests, I’m demanding they provide us with food. We were too exhausted and upset to do it last night; but, we all need to eat._

As they exited the room O’Neill and Teal’c fell into position flanking them. Which felt ominous, almost as if they were being walked to their execution. Neither man said anything as they made their way to the clockwork carriage car. Molly could feel Caleb tighten his grip on his shirt. The only saving grace of this whole situation was that his wizard was fully alert and carefully watching their surroundings. Between passive observation and spying via Frumpkin, he was sure that Caleb would have the entire layout of this place memorized by the end of the day. Which would be useful if they needed to make a break for freedom. The metal doors of the carriage slid closed as they all crammed into the too small for comfort space.

*********

Janet was a fair bit of the way towards crawling the walls when Jack and Teal’c brought Mollymauk and the children in. _The sooner we get this over with the better_ , she thought breathing a tense sigh of some emotion that wasn’t quite relief. _God, please let me be wrong._ She had no idea where to even begin explaining to them what was going on. Why she needed to perform these procedures. The decision that would have to be made if her worst fear was confirmed. A gentle hand on her shoulder startled her out of her spiraling thoughts. Janet looked up into Sam’s sympathetic face. _Right I’m not alone in this._ Last time Sam had been the one to insist on accompanying Cassie to the abandoned missile silo, to accompany a twelve year old girl to certain death and abandon her there. She had also been the one to make the decision to stay, revealing that Cassie got better the farther away from the stargate she got. Sam was the only reason that Janet had a daughter to worry about at all. _X-rays first, then blood nutrient levels. That will be the easiest and fastest way to tell._ Not for the first time she wished she had a better facility, chest X-rays would be so much more accurate with an overhead machine, unfortunately the portable one was all they had.

“Mollymauk, can you please help both children change into these exam gowns and then change into one yourself. You may leave your pants and undergarments on but remove your shirt and coat. Same goes for the children. A modesty screen has been set up in the corner for you.” She bit out, fear making her voice a bit harsher than she intended, as she held out the unflattering paper gowns towards the trio. The material rustling as they betrayed how her hand was shaking. Last time they had made the decision to sacrifice the life of one little girl, the sole survivor of her people, to save everyone in the Mountain and the surrounding city. The decision had nearly broken her then. She feared that should her worst fear be confirmed she would fall to pieces. There would be no living with herself, she didn’t think she would be able to look Cassie in the face again.

“Not before you tell us what’s going on, as these fine gentlemen,” Mollymauk spat, near flat red eyes glaring defiantly, “Failed to explain anything more than something was found in Caleb’s blood.” The angrily lashing tail threatened to hit the men on either side of him. _Dammit Jack, you couldn’t have taken two seconds to explain it to them first. God how do I explain this to in a way that makes sense. I don’t know if the concept of nanites is even remotely within their world’s scope of technology._

“Caleb’s blood tested positive for an element called Naquadah. Combined with low levels of a nutrient called potassium, that is particularly alarming. The last time we saw that combination was in my adopted daughter Cassie. She had been infected with millions of tiny machines, so small they couldn’t be seen by the naked eye only with extreme magnification. The machines were able to fit in her veins, they were triggered to start clumping together as soon as she came through or was in close proximity to a stargate. When grouped together these machines formed a bomb that kept growing in size and destructive power. Had it detonated it would have had enough destructive power to bring this entire facility down on our heads and destroy the surrounding city. There would have been no survivors.” Her voice sounded leaden and hollow to her ears and she could feel Sam’s hand against her shoulder a singular grounding point of contact.

“The longer she remained near the stargate the faster the bomb began to grow. Now as you see time is of the essence, please put these on so we can do X-rays on all of you just to be sure.” Janet hated the way her voice turned harsh when she was stressed and afraid, especially as she saw Caleb flinch. But there wasn’t anything she could do about it now, there potentially was a clock ticking down in that little boy that could kill them all and all the people surrounding Cheyenne Mountain.

“You think Caleb might be explosive?!” There was something in the way Mollymauk said that, as if there was some inside joke she wasn’t privy to. While there was still a heavy air of suspicion surrounding the man (who now that she was looking closer appeared disheveled as if he had been awakened rudely and hadn’t been given time to set himself to rights) it appeared that he was finally coming around, thankfully. Seemingly coming to a decision, he looked down at Caleb, and said.

“Hey Mr. Caleb, think you can grab those flimsy excuses for shirts, my hands are a bit full right now.” This was accompanied by a good natured wink, that only looked slightly false. _Right, he holding the kids, why did I ask him to take the gowns? I’m really batting zero for three today aren’t I?_ Janet thought as small pale hands reached out for the paper gowns.

“Ties go in back, as I said before, there’s a modesty screen in the corner for you to change behind.” She let out a sigh of relief as the three of them disappeared behind the surgery screen she had set up in the corner of the infirmary.

*********

As soon as they were behind the screen Molly crouched down and set both wizards on the ground. Pitching his voice low so as not to be overheard the other individuals in the room, “Essek do you think you could cast that spell again? Without them noticing?”

He had noticed that Caleb had started getting that slightly unfocused agitated look in his eyes as soon as they stepped foot in the infirmary. The last thing they needed right now was Caleb having another episode while these people were so keyed up. Oh he wasn’t stupid he had caught the unspoken implication that they would either remove Caleb from near the stargate or they would bury him where the blast wouldn’t destroy anything. Luckily Artagan’s words were the only thing keeping him from attempting to fight his way out. Essek reached out for Caleb’s hand before nodding slightly. Okay that was good, though he remembered seeing the powder smudged on Caleb’s forehead last night. Shit, there was no way that they would miss an iridescent smudge where there hadn’t been one just minutes earlier with the way they were so hyper tense right now. Though it had disappeared by the time he had pulled the coat off of Caleb’s head. Maybe if he stalled long enough it would disappear? It was worth a shot. Molly could hear them getting antsy longer the longer the three of them were behind the screen. _I need to distract them, but how?_ “Okay Mr. Caleb, would you feel better if I put this silly flimsy tunic on first? You’ll have to tie it for me though.”

The sudden change of subject and volume threw Caleb and Essek for a moment, both looking at him with confusion. At least Essek caught on fast eyes widening in understanding as Molly slipped out of his coat and draped it over the top of the screen. One more precaution against their silhouettes giving them away. In that moment Essek, without dropping Caleb’s hand, made a hand gesture and a small black leather pouch appeared in his hand. _Hmm, that didn’t look as smooth as it should have been_. He had seen Caleb attempting to cast on days after nightmares kept him up and it looked very similar. That was going to be an issue if it continued. The Drow tugged the pouch open with his teeth, as he still for some reason refused to let go of Caleb’s hand. There was something he was missing with this hand holding thing, and it appeared that even Caleb wasn’t sure what was going on if his confused expression was anything to go by. The Drow stuck a slender finger in the pouch and removed a fingertip coated in powder that glittered with rainbows as the light hit it.

Molly kept an eye on the proceedings as he slowly removed his shirt, absentmindedly noting a few tears that needed to be mended. Essek reached out, bag still clenched in his teeth, stopping just before the powder covered fingertip touched the center of Caleb’s forehead. Waiting until he received a nod of consent. As soon as he had that nod from Caleb some kind of symbol was sketched in the middle of Caleb’s forehead directly between and just above both eyebrows. That was his que. Sliding his arms through the terrifying thin papery fabric of the tunic, Molly knelt down with his back to the wizards and said; “Care to give me a hand tying this shut it’s a bit drafty.”

He kept an eye out for anyone peaking around the screen as he felt small hands pluck carefully at the strings hanging on either side of the gaping tunic. Even after the strings were tied he still felt exposed.

“It doesn’t close all the way does it?” he asked loudly. Hoping to at least get a chuckle from Caleb. Instead he got O’Neill, sounding far too amused by the situation, chiming in, “Nope, sorry. At least you got to keep your pants.”

He was half way tempted to take off his boots and shuck his leggings just to annoy the man. After all it wasn’t like Molly was shy or in anyway ashamed of his body. Glancing back he saw that both wizards had paled and were clutching the material of their shirts. Essek having vanished the pouch again and let go of Caleb’s hand. _Oh, they don’t have smalls on right now_. Knowing how body shy Caleb tended to be and judging by Essek’s reaction he was as well, the open back was going to be a problem.

“We, ah, have a bit of a problem, I don’t suppose you have small clothes that will fit my tiny companions. I’m not sure I can get them out of their shirts otherwise.” Mollymauk leaned around the screen to address the room at large. They all looked confused except Sam, “By small clothes, I assume you mean underwear?”

He gave her a relieved nod. Dr. Frasier looked directly at Jack and said, “Colonel O’Neill, can you get the Wal-mart bag off my desk for me.”

Ducking back behind the screen as the man left grumbling under his breath, Molly noticed that the powder seemed to have absorbed into Caleb’s skin leaving only the faintest trace of shimmer. He assumed that Essek had wiped the residual powder off on his shirt. After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was probably no more than ten minutes, O’Neill came back with a grey bag that made a strange crinkling noise.

“Here, shirts will have to wait until after the X-ray but pants, underwear, socks, and shoes help yourselves.” The bag was thrust unceremoniously into his hands. It wasn’t made of any material he was familiar with, but a look inside confirmed that it was full of clothing and some of the oddest shoes he had ever seen. Unfortunately the clothes were all fairly brightly colored. At least they more colorful than he assumed either wizard enjoyed wearing. Oh well beggars couldn’t be choosers and he assumed it was very expensive to acquire clothing and shoes sized for children on such short notice. They had to have woken the tailor up in the middle of the night to have gotten these done. He would have said they were hand me downs someone had on hand except all the clothes, including the shoes, were pristine so that was ruled out. Perhaps when this was over they could leave here and visit the tailor for clothing in some less colorful options. So that Caleb at least wouldn’t crawl out of his skin at being so noticeable.

Setting the bag down, he let them rummage through it to find something that they could at least tolerate wearing. Molly turned around to give them some semblance of privacy. The sounds of crinkling bag and rustling cloth could be heard behind him and he used the time to focus on untangling the chains and charms from his hair. He was not going to forget to remove them from his horns while he slept again. He had somehow managed to forget what a pain in the ass it was to untangle them. He had just finished the right side when a tug on the flimsy gown let Molly know they were finished. Turning around he saw that both Caleb and Essek were dressed in what looked like soft loose trousers that pooled around socked feet. Caleb’s in a deep blue and Essek in a vibrant purple, neither one looked particularly comfortable. They had removed their shirts and slid the open backed tunics on, which immediately swamped their small frames. Caleb was busy furtively tucking a roughly circular pierced stone on a leather cord under the material.

“Remember don’t let anyone remove that necklace.” Artagan’s voice whispered in his ear. Right whatever that necklace was it was important enough to Caleb’s safety that it should not be removed, Molly could do that. Worse comes to worse I’ll enthrall them. With all the ties finally knotted in place, they stepped out from behind the screen. 

*********

Janet mentally sighed in relief as they finally stepped out from behind the screen. They had taken so long she was almost positive that they were deliberately stalling for time. She wasn’t sure why that would be though.

“You keep mentioning this X-ray thing, what is that?” The tone was casual but an echo of that earlier growl was underlying it.

“An X-ray is a frequency of electromagnetic radiation that will allow me to take a picture of the inside of your chest (well any part of your body, we’re just doing your chest right now) without touching you or having to perform major surgery.” She didn’t miss the way that Caleb had shrunk in on himself scratching at the scars on his arms. Which told her all too much about how he had received them.

“Alright Caleb, can you get up on the exam table for me?” She asked the too thin boy who was looking anywhere but at her. She had upended an empty trash can to act as stepping stool in case either of the boys wanted more autonomy rather than relying on Mollymauk. It seemed that her hunch her was correct when he turned and clambered up onto the table with a resigned air. As his back was turned to her, Janet caught sight of what looked like the ends of a tied leather cord.

“Caleb, are you wearing a necklace? If so I’m going to have to ask you to take it off.” At once the resigned air turned to absolute and utter terror as he clutched the necklace through the hospital gown, pupils blown wide as adrenaline flooded his system.

“Nein, Ich werde nicht.” Caleb growled, eyes narrowed in defiance. She didn’t have time for this. She would make one more attempt to reason with him before wrestling the necklace off him herself and hope that Mollymauk didn’t go for her throat when she did so.

“Caleb, I can’t take a proper X-ray while you’re wearing it. You have to take it off.” She was trying to keep her tone even and unthreatening, though she wasn’t sure she managed it. Though the fact that he was lucid and feeling well enough to be defiant was a positive sign, Cassie had been lethargic and completely unconscious towards the end. Now if only she could get him to cooperate.

“Nein.” He spat again, teeth slightly bared. She wasn’t prepared for the burst of laughter that sounded from behind her. Turning she saw Mollymauk looking down at a giggling Essek with a highly amused smirk on his face. Once again Janet got the feeling that there was a private joke going on that she wasn’t a part of. Glancing back she even saw Caleb crack a tense white lipped smile.

“Look can the X-ray be done without removing the necklace, if he holds it out of the way of his chest?” Mollymauk’s voice was cajoling. When she hesitated to answer he snapped. Suddenly she was viscerally aware that this man had single handedly killed two Jaffa by himself with swords.

“He’s not taking it the necklace off. You’ve already taken his books, you’ve terrified and manhandled us. He’s not taking it off. Caleb will hold the necklace out of the way you just have to tell him where.” For a moment she swore that she saw the all the shadows in the room begin writhe. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision the writhing stopped. _God, I’ve been awake for too long, all this stress was starting to get to me._

It would work, it wasn’t ideal but she could work around it. Janet spent the next twenty minutes taking X-rays and finger prick blood tests. The latter of which was just as much of a fight as last night. While they were waiting for X-rays and test results to come back, Mollymauk asked, “So just a question what is Naquadah anyway?”

“Teal’c can you go get a staff weapon from the armory for me? It would be easier to explain if I had an example of it.” Sam spoke up. Janet watched Teal’c duck out of the infirmary. Honestly it was a testament to worried Jack was that he had stayed relatively silent and had only taken the one opportunity to snark at the situation and their guests throughout this whole procedure.

“Naquadah is a super-dense element with a quartzite crystalline structure. In it’s purest and most refined form it amplifies and stores energy exponentially. Hence why the primary use for refined Naquadah is powering weapons. However, it is also used as the power source for space ships and healing devices. Small amounts of Naquadah can be absorbed into the blood streams of some beings. When used in certain types of healing devices prolonged exposure can cause the following psychological side effects: psychopathy, sociopathy, megalomania, and intense feelings of superiority.” Sam finished her explanation right as Teal’c came back with a staff weapon.

“Weapons grade Naquadah comes in two forms solid state, and Teal’c if you would open the battery compartment of the staff weapon please,” she paused as Teal’c opened the the casing to reveal glowing green liquid contained in the glass battery housing, “and liquid.” Janet watched as what little color Caleb had drained from his face causing the smattering of freckles dusted across the bridge of his nose and cheeks to stand out in stark relief, as he began clawing furiously at his arms. Both Essek and Mollymauk seized a hand each, preventing him from doing himself harm. His voice was so quiet that she had to strain her ears to hear the word he said, “Residuum.”

_Oh god, I’m going to be sick_. Some sick bastard had been slicing that little boy’s arms open and putting Naquadah in the cuts. She sincerely hoped that if they ever found what planet these people were from she would be on the exploration team. Surely she still had samples of the Touched virus or any one of the other nasty diseases or afflictions that she collected during her position as the SGC’s chief medical officer. She wanted a crack at whoever had thought to experiment on a child, be they human, Goa’uld or whatever races Essek and Mollymauk were. By the thunderous expressions on Teal’c, Jack’s, and Sam’s faces they felt the same.

It was almost anti-climactic when the X-ray images came back. Caleb’s came back clean no sign of nanites which was a relief, Mollymauk’s came back clean as well. While Essek’s came back clean it also revealed that he had a severe bend in his spine just above his hips. _Oh, he has scoliosis_ , _I wonder if there’s someway we can get him a brace while he’s here._ She wondered at the unexpected complication that it presented.

The only other surprise was that all three of their nutrient levels had dropped sharply overnight. Which indicated that they all had incredibly fast metabolisms. Caleb and Essek’s having dropped the most sharply, Caleb’s more so than Essek’s. _I’m going to have to specially formulate supplements for them to make sure they’re getting enough._

“Well are we free and clear? If so can we please get something to eat?” Mollymauk’s plaintive question, punctuated by the distinctive gurgle of an empty stomach, cut through her wandering thoughts. _Right all clear, time to move forward_. There were no signs of nanites, a valid explanation was found. They hadn’t needed to make an unbearable decision. For once they had gotten lucky; however, she couldn’t help but feel that the other shoe was about to drop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The google translate german that I am saying is Zemnian in this chapter roughly translates to "No, I will not!" Also next chapter we finally get to check in with the rest of the Mighty Nein and finally find out just how Essek and Caleb ended up on that planet.
> 
> For those wondering what Essek's X-ray would look like check out the YouTube video "Drafting and Fitting Victorian Corset Mockups on an Assymetric Figure" by Bernadette Banner time stamp :24 to :31. Scoliosis as she mentions later in that same video makes it incredibly painful for her to stand or walk for long sustained periods of time. In a previous video relating to the same subject matter she mentions that the brace she wore, which she finally had to be ordered out of, means that she has little to no core strength. So basically Essek can barely do half a sit-up but as a wizard with gravity powers he really doesn't need to anyway.


	11. Interlude: We're Lighting Signal Fires and Spelling SOS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In true Mighty Nein fashion no one knows what the hell just happened. Also Beau would really rather someone else take charge...please?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So once again I ended up having to break this chapter up because it started to get too massive so what was only going to be two interludes throughout the story before they get reunited is more likely going to be closer to three or four. 
> 
> Thank you again to those who commented with your theories or just screaming at me how much you like this story. It really does help keep me on track with this story. Now if I could just keep the story from running away from me in terms of word counts making these chapters much larger than I initially estimate that would be great.

_Fuck, fuck, fucking, shit, mother fucker!_ Beau thought as she blinked blue after images from her eyes to reveal that the ring shaped ruin was empty. The last thing she remembered was Caleb shouting at them to stay back as the ring’s inner circle began to move. Jester’s piercing scream of the Traveler’s name, and then world erupted in blue.

_Come on, they’ve got to be here,_ ran through her head as she scanned the snow covered ground by the platform; searching for any sign of Caleb and Essek. _Please be okay._ The dusk had turned to full dark and she dropped the goggles over her eyes. Nothing, not a trace of either wizard at all. _Fuck, this isn’t happening._ It all felt too similar to the morning they woke up on Glory Run Road to find Yasha, Fjord, and Jester gone.

“Why didn’t it work? I felt him answer, it should have worked.” Glancing over to where Jester had been roughly fifty feet from the ruins to her right, she saw that the cleric had fallen to her knees in the snow, holy symbol crushed to her chest with a shaking fist. Violet eyes staring uncomprehendingly at the now still ring. _Shit, I’m not prepared to deal with this._ She just wasn’t good at this whole reassuring thing. A quick glance revealed that the others weren’t in much better states. Fjord was staring at the ruin with a lost look of dismay and an edge that Beau was all too easily able to identify as self blame and guilt from her association with Caleb. _Right, reassure Jester first then nip that in the bud,_ she thought. _Where’s Deuces? He’s good at this being reassuring shit._

Already her eyes were searching the frozen plain for the shock of pink hair, only for her heart to sink when she found it. He too was staring at the ring with a disturbed frown, ears drooping low and back with some emotion that may be dismay or distrust. _Okay, Nott, where’s Nott?_ She caught sight of the Goblin scrambling her way towards the ring.

“Caleb? Are you okay? You can reply to this message! Are you hurt?” Her screechy voice echoed in the still air. No help there either. Okay she could do this, she could do this, she couldn’t do this. But she had to try. Moving closer to Jester she could hear her increasingly frantic attempts to reach the Traveler. _Shit._ This was bad, Jester had taken it hard when they had to leave Yasha behind under Obann’s control, losing Caleb (and Essek) so close on top of losing Yasha and Molly, that might break Jester. _Fuck, how do I fix this?_ She could tell as she got closer that the skin on Jester’s knuckles had started to split from the force she was gripping her holy symbol with. Beau knew she wasn’t any good at comforting people, not like Caduceus was, or Jester could be. Molly had been good at comforting people too, hadn’t he? Memories of him comforting Toya and the forehead kiss he had given Caleb back in Alfield. She had been asking herself what would Molly do for most other situations in her quest to be a better person, why not this too. Reaching Jester she dropped to her knees in front of her friend.

“Hey, Jes. We’re going to get them back okay, but we need to figure out what happened first. Can you help me with that?” Gentling her voice to something softer, she wasn’t sure if it helped. Jester blinked and sniffled a little bit.

“I don’t know why it didn’t work, I felt him answer. They should be here.” Her voice was small, unsure, and it tore at something in Beau’s chest that she didn’t want to think about. Jester should never sound so unsure and sad.

“Maybe it did work, you said you felt him answer. Maybe he couldn’t stop whatever just happened but the reason he’s not answering is because he’s protecting them?” She tried to smile reassuringly but it felt more like a grimace.

“Maybe…” Her defeated unsure tone didn’t change. _Shit! Words aren’t working, okay plan B. Tactile comfort. Fuck, would a forehead kiss make it awkward? It would make it awkward. What about a hug, Jester loves giving people hugs, surely if I give her a hug it wouldn’t be awkward, right?_ Beau remembered her own hugs with Caleb and how unbearably awkward they were. _Maybe that’s just because we’re both unbearably awkward people?_ As she thought that another memory crept into place of Jester gently bumping her head or horns against Beau’s shoulders or against Nott’s forehead when she was excited and wanted to be closer to them. Come to think of it Molly had done something similar to Yasha all the time in the quiet moments between the two of them, like Frumpkin demanding Caleb’s attention. _A forehead bump then? That can’t be misinterpreted, right? Well here goes nothing._ Taking a deep breath, Beau bumped her forehead gently against Jester’s and rested it there briefly before pulling back. Jester gave her a watery smile and whispered, “Thanks.”

_Yes! Score one for being reassuring. Now can someone else please take over?_ “No, problem, Jes, I just need your help putting together what happened so we can get them back.”

She got a sniffling nod from the cleric who started to ease her grip on her holy symbol just a bit. _Okay, Fjord next, then he can take over this shit show._ Unfortunately as Beau thought that, Nott’s grating screech dashed her hopes.

“Where’s my boy? This is your fault, your and Caduceus’s goddess led us here. Led _you_ here. So bring him back!” Fuck, they couldn’t afford to turn on each other. Spinning to face Fjord again; she saw that Nott had returned from her frantic search of the ruin and had jumped until she could grab the ties of Fjord’s cloak and hauled herself up so she was nose to nose with him.

“Nott, knock it the fuck off. Before you say something we all regret,” swinging to focus on Fjord, “and you, Fjord, it’s not your fault either. So pull yourself together man.” Fjord turned lost golden yellow eyes towards her still not fully comprehending what had just happened. _Right, no help from that quarter just yet. Okay, think, put together what you know, what you don’t know but can infer, and what you’re missing._ Dairon’s lessons mingling with the long honed instincts of reading dicey situations. However before she got the chance Beau caught sight of Nott opening her mouth again.

“Nott, I swear to the fucking gods, if what’s about to come out of your mouth is some variation of it being Fjord’s or anyone else’s fault I will see just how far I can punt you across this ice field.” She growled watching the goblin glare at her and then take a pull from her flask so long it would have emptied it had the flask not been enchanted.

“Right, we’ll get them back but we have to pull ourselves together. Gods Molly would be so fucking ashamed of us turning on each other like this. So get your acts together and help me piece together what the hell just happened.” Beau felt a bit of vindictive pleasure at the way both Fjord and Nott flinched at Molly’s name. Which immediately made her feel like shit when she heard Jester’s voice break on a sob behind her. _Fuck, I am so not good at this. Time to change tracks._

“Look I don’t know about you but things got hard to see at the end there. Like the whole ruin was sort of distorted almost like it was underwater right before everything exploded into blue light. Did any of you see what was going on?” She asked.

“Caleb was on the platform looking at the writing or runes on the ring. I think he was attempting to use Comprehend Languages on it?” Nott’s quieter reply tracked with what she remembered. But that still didn’t explain how things had gone so far south, so fast. Other than the kind of shitty luck fuckery that followed them like plague rats.

“The ring glowed a bit, like just for a second, when Cayleb, cast it.” Jester chimed in still not entirely her cheerful enthusiastic self, still it was better than the desperation and despair that had enveloped her earlier.

“Wait a minute. The ring lit up when he cast Comprehend Languages on himself? Did the rest of you see this?” Beau demanded, looking at Nott and Fjord both of them shook their heads. Caduceus had closed his eyes and seemed to be communing with the Wildmother. Well he would let them know whatever information _She_ gave him when he finished mulling it over.

“Jester are you sure you saw the ring light up before the inner circle started moving?” She asked, mind racing. How could she have missed that? It should have been obvious; but then again, after they had first found the ruins and Caleb had cast Identify on the ruin telling them it had the same feedback as the Beacons they had waited until dusk to contact Essek. After which the wizards had kicked everyone off the platform (well after it had been checked for traps) saying they couldn’t do their magical investigations with everyone underfoot. _New rule, from now on no matter how much our wizard (wizards?) bitch about about not being able to do their investigation thing with everyone underfoot, nobody is going to stray more than ten feet from our wizard (wizards?). Just so this shit never happens again._

“Yes, it did it when he cast Identify too. It was harder to see then, because it was light out. But like the ring glowed white for a second, when the spell was cast. I remember cause I wanted to draw Cayleb and Essek because they are so cute together and Cayleb is like so happy when he gets to work with or learn magic from Essek. So I wanted to draw it for the Traveler.” That, that meant something, she just wasn’t sure what. Ignoring the part about Caleb and Essek, Jester tended to see the world through romance novel goggles; though in this case even Beau had to admit that there might be something there. She was also ninety percent sure that neither wizard was aware of the fact that they were flirting.

“So what you think the ring absorbed the magic?” That could explain some things, but that doesn’t explain how it activated unless the spells overloaded whatever the hell that ring was. She just hoped that it wasn’t the Dunamantic equivalent of the Happy Fun Ball.

“That’s what it looked like to me. Oh and Essek was over by that pedestal thing. He did some sort of spell and his eyes went all glowy and white, you know like Cayleb’s do when he looks through Frumpkin’s eyes.” Okay that was strange she could have sworn she remembered seeing Essek on the platform with Caleb right before everything went to shit.

“Wait a minute, Jessie, you said Essek was by that pedestal, I don’t remember that. All I remember is him on the platform with Caleb.” Fjord finally spoke up echoing Beau’s thoughts. Even Nott was nodding quickly at Fjord’s words.

“No, Essek was definitely at the pedestal because he tapped the surface of it while his eyes were all white and glowy. Then he looked surprised when his eyes stopped glowing.” Shit, she didn't remember that at all, but if Essek tapped the pedestal then that might be what activated it.

“Jester when did the ring start moving…before or after Essek tapped the pedestal?” Nott’s question was followed by fortifying slug from her flask. The tiefling chewed on her lip a bit as she thought, tail tapping her ankles.

“After, that’s when his eyes stopped glowing white and he looked surprised, maybe a little alarmed?” Shit, it was beginning to look more and more like Essek unintentionally activated whatever this ruin was. Jester continued almost as an afterthought, “Essek cast something, but I don’t think it worked.”

“You know, Caleb cast something too, while he was on the platform after the ring started moving,” Nott chimed in. Fuck, if the ring was absorbing magic and both Essek and Caleb had both attempted spells at the same time then that might explain why things got so weird there just before everything went blue.

“Did you recognize what spell Caleb cast Nott?” Beau asked, because she too had seen Caleb cast a spell just before he had yelled for everyone to stay back. However, given they all seemed to be remembering slightly different things; she wanted to be sure that she and Nott had seen Caleb cast the same spell.

“Slow, he cast Slow, or attempted to, on the ring.” Her voice was confident, no hesitation like she wasn’t sure, she knew what spell he had cast. Beau’s heart sank, she could have sworn, in fact she was sure that Caleb had cast Haste on himself and then attempt to tug Essek off the platform.

“That’s weird because I saw him caste Haste on himself and attempt to drag Essek off the platform.” The three of them all stared at her, they all remembered different things. She wondered what Caduceus had seen.

“How come we all saw different things?” Nott croaked. That was the fucking question of year. Except no it wasn’t, as a stray scrap of memory drifted to the front of her mind of Essek’s lightly accented voice saying “Time is one of my specialties.”

“Son of a fucking bitch, Jester you said you saw Essek trying to cast something, right? I think he tried to reverse time.” That caught everyone’s attention, their eyes widening in realization.

“So, what we were seeing alternate realities or something?” Nott screeched.

“More like alternate timelines, well two different timelines. It seems we each saw different parts of two different timelines based on how close we were to the ring. Jester you were the closest, Nott was the next, Fjord, Caduceus, and I were the farthest ones out.” This was just their fucking luck. They needed to check out that pedestal maybe it had the clues they needed? Now that the panic and adrenaline was starting to wear off Beau was starting to shiver, so was Fjord. Shit they were in the middle of an ice field and the sun had gone down. They also didn’t have tents, because they were so used to having Caleb’s bubble. _Blankets, we need blankets and fast._ Glancing towards Caduceus again she saw that his eyes were open again finally finished communing with the Wildmother.

“Hey, Deuces, did the Wildmother tell you anything about this ruin?” She called out as he levered himself to his feet ambling over to them.

“Just that it’s old, very, very old.” Which yeah, the ring had to be old, but surely there was more. Though she noticed that his usual serene and inscrutable smile was gone and a troubled frown had taken its place and the cleric seemed slightly shaken by the answer he had received.

“Like Age of Arcana old?” But that didn’t make sense they had encountered at least one artifact from the Age of Arcana in the past and they didn’t leave the usually unflappable Firbolg looking so unsettled.

“Older, I got the sense that she didn’t know how old it was. The only other thing I could get is that it’s a gate of some kind.” Fuck, now she understood why he looked troubled. A gate that predated a goddess. _Gods Caleb, you better fucking be okay._ She needed her team human partner, her brother in all but blood (though she’d never admit it out loud). Her family wasn’t complete without him. After all she couldn’t rub it in her parent’s face that this rag tag and colorful group of people that they would have turned their noses up at she considered more family than them. Before she could ever consider doing that though she needed her brother back and hopefully Yasha as well. Gods, if only Molly were still alive, that asshole would absolutely horrify her father to no end.

“Any way you could see if you find anything else out?” She asked distracting herself out of her worried and sentimental thoughts. Cad’s troubled expression didn’t change though his ear’s drooped even further than they already were.

“Not without casting Legend Lore on it, and I don’t have the components for that right now.” He looked up at the sky breath streaming from his nostrils like smoke, “It’s getting late, we should see what we can do about setting up camp and see if we can start a fire. We need to make sure Miss Nott doesn’t freeze to death, alcohol doesn’t actually keep you warm, you know, quite the opposite really.”

Right, they needed to rest and look at the pedestal in the daylight. Hopefully they would be able to figure out how to rescue Caleb and Essek tomorrow. Suddenly the realization that Essek was missing as well truly hit her.

“We’re fucked, completely and utterly fucked,” Everyone stopped and looked at her curiously, “Guys, we just lost the Bright Queen’s Shadowhand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next we chapter will see us back under the Mountain in Stargate Command and we finally learn just why Artagan doesn't want Caleb's necklace removed. 
> 
> And why yes the headbutting thing was a reference to the series Tiefling Fuckery by HyperKid, because I love the idea of Tieflings displaying cat-like tendencies.


	12. Baby, We Could be Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we find out what the Tok'ra were actually looking for, security footage is reviewed with some interesting results, and once again people put two and two together and possibly end up at fish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wasn't sure this chapter was going to get written anytime soon. The only reason it got written at all was because of the kind readers who commented. Seriously all of you rock and you saved my sanity this week. I was battling what was essentially a four day long prolonged severe anxiety attack regarding a test that would determine whether or not I would be eligible for a promotion at work. Your kind words helped me through it and for that I cannot thank you enough. 
> 
> Also for those not familiar with the Stargate SG-1 universe here are a few clarifications before we get into this chapter. The NID (National Intelligence Department) is an agency that supposedly supposed to provide civilian oversight on top secret military operations often pertaining to UFOs, however it is somewhat of a rogue agency that has been involved with shady operations both on and off world to retrieve alien technology for the defense of the United States by any means necessary. BDOC is a military acronym that stands for Base Defense Operations Center. The Reetou are an insect-like alien race that are invisible to naked eye because they are phased 180 degrees outside of the wavelengths that human eyes can see. Normally peaceful the Goa'uld nearly wiped them out on possibility that they could be a threat. Since then rogue members of their race act as rebels against the Goa'uld and hunt down any traces of them that they can find. They can be detected through the use of a device called a Transphase Eradication Rod or TER.

General George Hammond kneaded the bridge of his nose trying to stave off the impeding migraine as Aldwin and Lantash were escorted out of his office and towards the stargate. As of this moment the Joint Chiefs of Staff had given him the authority to limit Tok’ra presence in the SGC only to the official Ambassador. The Tok’ra High Council on Vorash would not be happy and he had no doubt that there would be veiled threats and multiple missives demanding an explanation. For all that it was a mostly empty threat maybe it would finally impress upon the Tok’ra that true allies don’t set the other up as stalking horses to further their own goals. After all the Tok’ra needed emergency hosts more than Earth needed their assistance against the System Lords. All it had taken was the hint that the Tok’ra had deliberately set Earth up to draw the ire of a System Lord, one that had already proved that he didn’t care about the Protected Planets Treaty with the Asgard, and the Joint Chiefs had all but escorted the Tok’ra off Earth themselves. Now all he could do was hope that this action didn’t alert the NID to the presence of their guests being the reason for the change. The last thing he needed was a NID mole in the SGC alerting them to the fact that they had at least one member of an alien race that wasn’t considered a modified human and thus safe from NID relocation. Relaxing a fraction of an inch, he allowed the strain to show momentarily forgetting that he wasn’t alone in the room. _Any one who says that Command is an easy job is a fool._ George just wished that he could talk through some of the challenges this command brought without worrying about it being a security breach. A slight clearing of a throat prompted him to look at the remaining individuals (for all that they shared the same body) in the room. General Jacob Carter, retired, had been a good friend, still was to some extent if a bit less trustworthy because of Selmac.

“Want to tell me what’s going on, now that they’re gone?” The odd head bob before he spoke signaled that Selmac had given Jacob control. Not for the first time George wondered how much of Jacob was still there and how much was Selmac pretending to be Jacob. Dr. Jackson had brought up a disturbing point, at their heart the Tok’ra still were Goa’uld and that could spell problems for the SGC and Earth later down the line.

“Only if you tell me, what exactly my team was actually supposed to be looking for. I don’t suppose I need to impress upon you how very bad the fiasco that last mission was looks to us. Because as I explained to Aldwin and I am perfectly prepared to explain to Garshaw and the rest of the High Council, it looks like the Tok’ra, who are supposedly our allies, set SG-1, and Earth by proxy, up to be targets while the Tok’ra made an attempt at capturing a Queen. So you tell me old friend, was that what happened?” It was a calculated gamble a chance to see if he could get the truth out of Jacob and Selmac. Because Dr. Jackson had an unnerving talent for being right about the most absurd sounding things, and as wild as his theory had sounded there was just enough plausibility to it that George couldn’t afford to ignore it simply because it sounded far fetched. Jacob let out a deep sigh that turned into a tired head shake.

“If that was also part of their goal it was not shared with us. Between the two of us it is becoming increasingly clear that the High Council is heavily editing what information, they allow Selmac and myself get hold of. Apparently they dislike that I have been quite vocal in telling them strategically everything that is wrong with their plans and their tactics on multiple occasions.” There’s a familiar bitterness to his voice that George has heard in other retired Generals’ voices, one that speaks to the frustration of having their council and experience ignored because they no longer are active duty and thus obsolete. It’s a tone that he’s not sure Selmac could fake. Jacob’s head bobbed again and Selmac picked up the thread of conversation, “The council feels that I have perhaps allowed my ‘advanced age’ to give more weight and fondness for my host’s opinions and kin ties, thus clouding my judgment when it comes to our alliance with the Tau’ri of Earth. They do not wish to admit, are to some extent incapable of admitting, that we are fighting a losing battle against the system lords. We have only scattered bases, limited numbers, and our strategies and tactics have not changed. Jacob has hammered that knowledge home to me. That our genetic memory is a crutch and a handicap in this case, making us resistant to change, prone to stagnation. It was a lesson that I had no wish to learn and without hosts such as Jacob Carter it is a lesson that the members of the High Council will not learn.”

Well that certainly made more sense of some of the decisions the Tok’ra had made. He wasn’t sure if he fully believed Selmac, but George knew Jacob and knew that the man would not have stood for sending allies and military men and women into harm’s way without the information they needed to complete the mission as safely as possible. It was a relief to know that the Tok’ra had not changed Jacob that much.

“So if the High Council’s goal wasn’t an attempt to grab a queen at any cost, then what was it, or at least what were you told it was?” The pointed question was a part request for information and part dig at the Tok’ra for putting them in this situation, because there was no way that it would end without Earth getting caught in Her’rur’s cross-hairs when Amaunet went missing unless O’Neill could pull off a miracle. Jacob’s head bobbed again as Selmac relinquished control.

“Coward,” Jacob said clearly directed towards Selmac, “Well apparently, if I have all the information correct, Anise/Frejya on her latest attempt to find those damn bracelets came across an account detailing the end of the alliance of the four great races. According to this account all four races The Ancients, The Asgard, The Furlings, and The Nox colonized a planet that essentially served as one large collaborative laboratory. It was in essence a planet wide workspace for improving technologies and various pursuits of each race.” This was starting to sound almost like the Atlantis tales of Earth and that his team had been sent chasing a scrap of folklore. Though he would have to have O’Neill talk to the Asgard about this story and see how much they were willing to corroborate. Staying he silent he just motioned for Jacob to continue.

“Quite frankly I’m not sure I believe it, some of the descriptions sound like dime store Sci-fi novel fodder. Even more so than anything I’m currently living and have experienced. Cities in the sky held aloft by massive anti-gravity generators, research into different types of immortality, the manipulation of time. Anyway the translation of the account is unclear as to what actually happened but it seems either one of the experiments backfired or broke loose. Resulting in nothing short of a planet wide war, that destroyed the land. Left entire colonies dead when the these anti-gravity generators failed crashing cities to the ground.” Definitely an Atlantis type myth, but the Nox had been tight lipped about what had caused them to withdraw from the alliance to set up as resolute pacifists, and if he remembered the mission report on the Nox homeworld correctly they did have at least one floating city. There was also the fact that the rest of the Asgard and the Goa’uld believed the Nox to have died out much like the Furlings because they were effectively able to cloak anything they desired with a perfect invisibility. 

“And the High Council believes that PX7-4445 is that planet.” It was perhaps a redundant question but in his considerably lengthy career George had learned to always clarify what seemed like the obvious answer.

“Yes, given that the account stated that this war was widespread and so horrific that in the aftermath the Nox and the Furlings had been wiped out and the Asgard and the Ancients declared the planet Tal-mak, the Asgard retreating to their homeworld and the Ancients according to the account falling back to a secondary homeworld, a place where all the stargates connected to. There was enough information to pinpoint that this planet was somewhere in the Pegasus galaxy. The planet you’re calling PX7-4445 fits the admittedly vague description.”

“So what you’re telling me is that my team was sent chasing what is essentially a version of the Atlantis myth because the Tok’ra deemed it too risky to send a team to investigate it themselves. And that it was simply a coincidence that Amaunet showed up while SG-1 was there,” skepticism dripping from his words as George fixed his friend and his friend’s silent passenger with an unimpressed look. Jacob leaned back in the chair, before sighing.

“I warned them against that course of action but as Selmac and I said before the High Council had been less than forthcoming with information. As for Amaunet, I can think of at least two council members and four deep operatives that might have let the information slip to Amaunet in an attempt to capture her. Did they actually do it? That I don’t know.” Well at least gave him some ammunition to use against the Council. Now if he could keep them in the dark about the SGC’s guests until they could get them somewhere off Earth. Preferably their home, and the opportunity to open negotiations with Mollymauk’s people. If there was ever a situation where Earth was lost and they had to fall back to another planet it would be nice to have more options than Chulak and a few assorted Tok’ra hold outs. A planet where some of the populace could go toe to toe with multiple Jaffa and hold their own would be helpful.

Just as Jacob opened his mouth to speak again, presumably to ask about why the SGC was being so secretive surrounding the fallout of the mission, the phone began to ring.

“I take it that’s my que to head back to my quarters and reassure the High Council that our alliance still intact for now. Before I go, is Sammie alright?” He ask as he stood up.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself? I’m not going to stop you talking to your daughter.” He had noticed Jacob’s distance from Major Carter recently, but had ignored it. Family issues weren’t his business unless they adversely affected the discipline of the unit. Reaching towards the phone that continued to ring, he waited for Jacob to either respond or show himself out. The man paused by the door to his office hand on the door handle.

“She flinches around the Tok’ra, including me,” Jacob’s lips twisted into grimace of saddened disgust, “there is a reason I would have preferred that she had taken the job with NASA. I refuse to make her uncomfortable. Well wish me luck old friend, I’m going to need it dealing with the cat you set among the pigeons with this move.”

As soon as the door to his office closed General Hammond picked up the phone’s handset. “Hammond, unsecured line.”

“General, one of the swords is missing and well there’s something you should see.”

*********

 _Sam is going to be very interested in the contents of this book, hopefully the pictures come out clear when we enlarge them._ Daniel thought as he photographed a page covered in equations interspersed with what looked like esoteric diagrams and copious notes in German, well Zemnian he supposed. While this particular book was fascinating for the seemingly mishmash of elements and contradictory information about the planet the three of them came from, it was the second book in the harness that he couldn’t wait to study. It was by far the book in the worst shape, singed and water damaged, with stained and rough edged pages, however it was still holding together well enough to be functional. It had clearly been taken apart multiple times and rebound in order to add more folios to it. It also happened to be written entirely in a language he didn’t recognize. The writing didn’t tie to any alphabet, ancient or otherwise, that Daniel recognized.

Already a part of his mind was wondering if it would be worth it to go through the hoops it would take to get photos of the text past the NDAs and send them to some of his former archaeological and anthropological colleagues that he knew had backgrounds in linguistics to see if they had seen any writing similar to this. It would almost be worth the inevitable, _“You’re still alive? We thought you were dead. You haven’t published anything in two years,”_ that was always followed by a snide, _“They still allow you in the field?”_ Nevermind that he and every other civilian scientist that was a part of the SGC was so bound up in NDA’s that they could barely breathe a word of what they’ve discovered. Nevermind that he had been forced to to falsify scientific reports, to break the scientific code of ethics, in order to conceal the existence of the system lords from the general populace. Honestly he might be better off discretely sending some of the examples off to Catherine Langford and letting her circulate them amongst the ancient linguistics academic circles she knew. She had a better professional reputation than he did anyway, and could probably get further than he would alone. It was a bitter reality that he had come to accept, if not gracefully than with a certain amount of grudging acknowledgement.

If the books belonged to Caleb’s parents then maybe the key to translating this book lay with Caleb himself. _It’s obviously not in Zemnian, the other book clearly shows that written Zemian is very similar to written German, then again the name Caleb isn’t a name of Germanic origin either. It has it’s roots in Hebrew if I’m not mistaken._ Daniel absentmindedly noted as he turned another page with cotton gloved fingers and almost dropped the camera as he realized what he thought. This would be the first evidence of Judeo-Christian influences outside of Earth that they had encountered, since the stargate program had been active. It wasn’t plausible. Judaism and Christianity had evolved long after the Ancients and system lords had left Earth. Unless Caleb’s ancestors had been snatched after Ra had been kicked off Earth, in which case the culprits would have been the Asgard. After all they had evidence that the Asgard had been interacting with the peoples of Scandinavia long after Ra’s banishment.

Cimmeria was proof of the fact that they had removed humans from Earth to create a refugium colony of sorts. It might stand to reason that they had done it with Caleb’s people too. Daniel wondered if Catherine knew any biblical archaeologists with a background in linguistics who would be willing to look at the writing in the book. He was so lost in his thoughts as he photographed the books that he didn’t hear or see Sam walk in, until she spoke from just behind his right shoulder. Thankfully she had waited until he had just finished taking the picture and not when he was in the middle of turning a page, because he jumped and nearly dropped the camera.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, but General Hammond wants all of us in BDOC right away. Apparently one of Mollymauk’s swords went missing last night and the security cameras caught something he wants us to take a look at.” She sounded exhausted and now that Daniel was looking closely he could see the stress lines etching themselves into her brow and around her eyes in addition to the bruise dark circles under them.

“Hey, Sam are you alright? Do you need to talk to someone?” He asked carefully setting the camera down and beginning the process of turning the lights off and locking up the climate controlled room. His friend let out a shaky breath.

“It’s just been a long couple of days. We had a scare this morning. Caleb’s blood tested positive for trace amounts of Naquadah and we thought we had another Cassie situation on our hands.” Daniel winced that was the last thing they all needed, Sam and Janet least of all.

“Turns out it wasn’t a nanite bomb rather some sick bastard experimented on him by putting weapons grade liquid Naquadah in the cuts on his arms. The worst part is I think I may look like the person who did it, given the reaction he had when he saw me last night.” He couldn’t even refute that fact given what he remembered of Caleb’s desperate pleading and attempts to protect Mollymauk and Essek by offering himself up in exchange.

“Well all we can do from here on out is do our best to try and convince him that you aren’t anything like that person by doing everything in our power to get him and the others home. I’m also sure that having Lantash and Martouf here isn’t doing any favors for your nerves.” he said as they stepped into the elevator that would take them up to BDOC’s level. The full body flinch Sam tried to suppress at the mention of that particular Tok’ra and host pair prompted him to offer an olive branch in apology.

“If you need an excuse to hole up somewhere and avoid them, I have some very interesting photos of the contents of one of Caleb’s books that I think you’ll want to take a look at. Of course I’ll be volunteering my translation services for the German..err Zemnian.” The grateful look she shot him as they arrived on the appropriate level told him all he needed to know and Daniel resolved to get the photos printed off the camera as fast as possible. They entered the darkened room with it’s bank of monitors and TVs to see Janet, Jack, and General Hammond already waiting for them.

“Where’s Teal’c?” He asked when he realized that they were one person short. Jack responded with a rueful shake of his head, “Introducing our guests to the horrors of cafeteria food.”

 _Ahh, that makes sense. Now that he mentioned it I can’t remember eating anything since mid-morning yesterday either._ His stomach suddenly chose that moment to make itself known and remind him that man cannot live on coffee alone, no matter how much Daniel tried. Much to Janet’s frustration, and attempts to limit his caffeine intake.

“Now that we’re all here. Sometime around oh-two hundred this morning one of our guest’s personal effects went missing and when the security footage was reviewed it revealed this, Sergeant Dixon if you would play back the footage.” General Hammond briefed directing their attention to the monitor screen in front of the Staff Sergeant.

On the screen they watched as the one sword shimmered and seemed to melt away like a special effect hologram. No one appeared in the frame, nothing appeared out of the ordinary before or after the sword disappeared other than the sword was gone as if it had never been there at all. However something caught Daniel’s eye.

“Can you go back a moment, I thought I saw something.” Sergeant Dixon rewound the footage to the point the sword started to fade out and this time instead of focusing on the sword he looked at the reflection on the black screen of the computer monitor on the counter behind the table the items were laying on. It was hard to make out but it almost appeared as if there was a cloaked and hooded figure reflected on its surface that didn’t appear in the rest of the room.

“Pause. It might just be a case of pareidolia, but it looks like there’s a hooded figure reflected on the computer monitor.” Pointing at the screen. Immediately everyone started the examining the paused image, when Jack spoke up, “At the risk of sounding like the crayon eater in the room, but pareidolia is?”

Sam piped up, “Pareidolia is the phenomenon of seeing faces or familiar shapes in random patterns such as clouds, smoke, or the knots in trees. It’ s thought to be a defense mechanism leftover from when we were a hunter-gatherer society and we had a lot more predators than we do now. It was safer to assume the shape you saw in the grass was tiger than to assume it wasn’t.”

“Got it. So the hooded figure might just be our brains assigning a shape to a reflection because we know the sword is disappearing and it’s trying to assign a reason for what’s happening?” Daniel nodded in agreement and then spoke, “Like I said, it’s probably a case of pareidolia, fast forward to the point just after the sword disappeared.”

If the visual artifact wasn’t there after the sword disappeared then they would have to consider the possibility that they might have accidentally brought four guests through the stargate instead of three. The last thing they needed was another lifeform loose in the mountain like the Reetou. The video skipped forward until the sword disappeared and when paused it was clear to see that the figure in the monitor was gone as well. Everyone looked at each other the same thought clearly running through their minds. _Who or what was that?_

“So not this pareidolia thing after all.” Jack grimly broke the silence.

“It’s still possible but given that it’s a fixed camera and other than the sword nothing was moved and the lighting didn’t change it’s incredibly unlikely.” Well at least they still had the TERs on hand, hopefully they could find this thing before it decided to steal more than a sword.

“So, let me get this straight Dr. Jackson, you’re telling me that we might have an entity that is invisible to the naked eye loose in Cheyanne Mountain and is now potentially armed with a lethal weapon.” General Hammond’s voice was hard with an edge that could have scored glass.

“That’s what it appears, General.” The man kneaded the bridge of his nose moving to massage his eyelids too as he let out a tired sigh and muttering almost to himself, “At least we don’t have to deal with the Tok’ra being underfoot while we sweep the mountain with the TERs.”

Daniel watched Sam’s demeanor perk up at the implications of that that statement. “General?”

“As of zero eight this morning the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave me the authority to restrict Tok’ra presence within the mountain to only the official Tok’ra ambassador and Jacob and Selmac have graciously agreed to stay in the ambassador’s quarters and deal with the High Council for the time being.” That was a huge relief, it meant that they could keep the Tok’ra away from Mollymauk and the children a while longer. Glancing around Daniel could varying degrees of relief on everyone’s face except Janet’s. Before he could ask, however, she spoke.

“Sergeant Dixon can you please pull up the security footage for the gateroom last night, specifically when SG-1 returned, please.” All eyes focused on her as Sergeant Dixon searched the share-drive for the right footage and the correct date and timestamp. That was sounding like she had seen something last night and wanted to confirm it.

“Major Fraiser, what…” Before the general could finish his sentence Janet explained, “I thought I saw a heat shimmer over Mr. Mollymauk’s left shoulder last night just before he dropped their personal effects at Sergeant Jones’ request. It almost appeared as if he were listening to something before he did so.”

That caught everyone’s attention and a thunderous expression started forming on General Hammond’s face. “And why am I only hearing about this now, Major?”

Daniel watched as Janet straightened her shoulders and in the same matter of fact tone she would deliver a diagnosis stated, “Sir, by the time of my debrief with you last night we were all pushing a sixteen hour work day, in between my noticing it and making a mental note to mention it to security forces at the first opportunity. I also had a wounded patient to treat, post mission medical exams to conduct, which also ended up with me having to wrestle a kicking, clawing, and biting child for a blood sample, and the second child not only showing signs of severe child abuse but having a post traumatic induced episode of dissociative catatonia in response to have blood drawn. It slipped my mind, sir.” She took a deep breath, a move that Daniel was well acquainted with as Janet suppressing irritation to remain professional, “As for why I didn’t report it this morning, other than I had forgotten about it in light of everything else that went on, well one of the children tested positive for Naquadah in his blood. We were making sure that it wasn’t another nanite bomb.”

Hand coming up to his forehead and an irritated furrow started carving itself into his brow, “Again why wasn’t I notified of this development?”

Jack jumped to Janet’s defense, “General, you were in with the Tok’ra while that was going on this morning. We couldn’t notify you without alerting them to our guests. It ended up being a false alarm, sir, by the time we received your summons we had already ruled out the possibility.”

That explanation had him relaxing just slightly though Daniel could see the thread of irritation still running through the general’s posture.

“Umm, you’re going to want to see this, sir.” Sergeant Dixon’s voice tentatively broke the tense air. Once again all eyes trained themselves on the screen. They watched the events of the previous night unfold starting with the gate activation and the staff weapon being flung through the gate, followed by SG-1. However on screen instead of three figures following the team through the gate only a single tiny figure appeared holding onto something that wasn’t visible, eyes screwing tightly shut at the first sight of the lights trained on the gate platform and flinching at the wailing of the alarm. _What on Earth?_

“What the hell?! Why is only Essek visible?” Jack’s stunned exclamation echoed all of their thoughts. It simply didn’t make any sense. They continued watching as the rest of the footage played out from Janet seeming to negotiate and respond to a small child that refused to answer instead of the adult she had actually been talking with, to a pile of items appearing on the ramp as if they had just materialized from nothing. It made absolutely no sense why were Mollymauk and Caleb not showing up on screen but Essek was? Nothing about this footage was making sense. A glance towards Sam revealed her eyes darting back and forth as she thought through possible explanations picking up and discarding physics equations at breakneck speeds. It was a look that usually heralded things going boom.

On screen Mollymauk suddenly became visible as if blinked into existence, looking distressed speaking with Janet and the security forces team surrounding the gate. _Oh, this was when Caleb grabbed his books._ However, Caleb still was nowhere to be seen. They watched as Mollymauk winced, crouched down reaching out towards an empty space in front of him and then winked out of existence. Another few moments later he reappeared holding the leather harness with its pair book holders. The sequence didn’t seem to make sense, until the one common link hit him.

“Caleb, it’s Caleb,” Daniel breathed out in stunned breath.

“He must have something on him that renders him invisible to optical recordings. Whatever it is it’s obviously got a limited field effect, so that whatever or whomever he’s in direct physical contact with is also affected. Which would explain why the clothes and items Mollymauk was carrying were affected but Essek who was touching Mollymauk and not Caleb wasn’t.” Sam’s rapid fire explanation left them all stunned. Eyes going wide as they put the information together with the context of the video and the event of the last forty-eight hours.

“The necklace. It’s gotta be the necklace the kid is wearing.” Jack snapped out. “They really didn’t want us to remove it.” Sam and Janet both looked like someone had smacked them with a board. Daniel couldn’t help but be curious about what necklace they were referring to. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure what the next chapter will be, it depends on which one flows easier when I'm writing but it will either pick back up with the Mighty Nein or it pick back up with Mollymauk, Caleb, and Essek.  
> Also I know the Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location is only supposed to protect against magical detection and scrying. However security cameras by definition act the same as a scrying spell so I'm operating off of the assumption that the amulet essentially reacts the same way to anything that also mimics the effect of scrying or location spell since that it was it is designed to block.


	13. Seek it Out and Ye Shall Find

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mollymauk and co. are exposed to Earth standard cafeteria fare, and Teal'c asks questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm still not sure about this chapter, it fought me every step of the way, and thanks to Teal'c getting on the subject of gods I ended up having to push the latter half of what I planned to another chapter. 
> 
> Thank you again for your kind words and support, it really does mean the world to me. I am doing much better now. Also WTF Matt! I was not expecting that reveal on Thursday.

“I know I said I’ve probably eaten worse, but this is cutting close.” Mollymauk commented staring down at the metal bins holding various foods labeled in red, yellow, and green. He couldn’t see any flame or other methods of heating keeping the food warm and he remembered from too many warnings and personal experiences that, that was something which could lead to illness. Glancing down at the wavy mop of dark red hair hovering close to his hip and again to the hooded and sock footed child currently perched on his hip; the last thing he needed was for any of them to fall ill. Especially since he was a terrible patient, at least according to Yasha, when he was ill and he dreaded to think how either of the childlike wizards would react though for very different reasons.

“Well anything look appetizing to either of you?” he asked, hoping there was at least something here that he could get them to eat. It had sometimes been a struggle for the group, i.e. Nott, to ensure that Caleb ate regularly when he was an adult, he was hoping that that behavior didn’t track with kid Caleb. He also had no fucking idea if there was anything Essek couldn’t or wouldn’t eat. Molly had a sinking feeling that he had been entirely correct in his suspicion that their physical age was affecting their judgement. Case in point Essek flat out refusing to wear the shoes provided, he simply had put them on for maybe a minute or two and promptly took them off refusing to wear them. Hence why Molly was carrying the Drow on his hip instead of Essek walking beside him like Caleb. He didn’t receive an answer to his question from Essek, and given that he was still pretending that he didn’t understand or speak common, Molly hadn’t really expected one but the hooded sweater (a nice bit of clothing to aid in blocking the light for the Drow) that he was wearing obscured his face so that the Tiefling was unable to even guess at what he would want from his expression. Looking down at Caleb, hoping for a some sort of response, revealed his wizard giving him an exasperated expression that on his childish face read more like a pout. _Oh right, he can’t see over the rail to what’s available._ Molly could feel his tail start to lash in anxiety as he realized that he was going to have to try and puzzle out what was written on those colored cards. Damnit that was one thing he would have gladly hidden from Caleb forever.

“Well we’ve got…”pausing and feeling very self conscious as he parsed out the yellow label in front of a tray of what appeared to be noodles under Caleb’s all too direct gaze, “buttered noodles, and beef…” There was no way that he could even sound out that second word on the red label he was trying to read, “something, it looks like stew meat and mushrooms in some kind of brown gravy.” The rest of the tags were just as incomprehensible with the exception of the last three a yellow tag reading roasted red potatoes, and two green tags, one reading mixed vegetables and the other reading corn. Molly could feel his shoulders hunching slightly slightly as the human behind the other side of the glass stared at him either silently judging him or waiting for him to make a decision (he hoped it was the latter) and Caleb’s silent gaze as he continued describing the food with labels that he couldn’t read. _Moonweaver help me,_ he silently prayed, _please don’t let Caleb think I’m stupid._ Which, granted he was never going to be as smart as his family’s wizard was and most likely the other wizard on his hip as well, but there was a fragile feeling in his chest that felt like it would shatter into pieces too small to repair if Caleb thought him stupid because of his inability to do something as simple as read the labels on this food.

“So again did any of that sound remotely appetizing.” He pasted on his devil may care bright jovial mask, fully aware that his tail had devolved into anxious wagging. _Please be looking at my face and not my tail_ , if one arm wasn’t currently supporting Essek and the other steadying the tray made of some strange beige material similar to horn that held their plates he would have grabbed it grabbed it to prevent it from broadcasting his distress anymore than it already had. Receiving only a shrug from Caleb and a hopeful, “Bread?”

_Okay who decided that it was a good idea to leave me alone with two kids, even if they aren’t actually kids, at this point I’m not even two years old anymore._ He hadn’t seen any bread here in this strange excuse for a tavern, he didn’t see anything to drink either. Gods he was already failing at this guardianship thing. It was a wonder they hadn’t gotten Kiri killed, at least then he had had the others to help, right now he was alone in unfamiliar territory and unsure as to what he should let them know and what to hide. He had not seen a single other race other than human here and that terrifying. That generally lead to bad things and the Carnival had avoided small towns that only had human populations, especially after the one time they had been driven away because of his presence.

“I don’t know if they have any bread, darling?” He said hesitantly, anxiety ratcheting up a notch as an anxious expression began to form on Caleb’s face. Before he could say anything however, their silent, so far, guard spoke up, “Bread is around the corner by the drink dispensers and dessert case.”

Mollymauk could have kissed the man, how could he have forgotten about Caleb’s affinity for bread. Jester had even described the wizard’s bread muff trick. It made sense, especially given the state he had been in when Mollymauk had first met Nott and Caleb, bread was easy to get and affordable if you were dirt poor. It had obviously become something of a comfort food for his wizard and if he were honest they could all use some comfort food right now. After not getting an answer other than Caleb’s request for bread and the fact that he couldn’t see Essek’s face thanks to the hood, he handed all three plates over and asked for the stew-like beef dish, noodles, potatoes, and pea and carrot mix. Those seemed the safest and most familiar of all the foods offered.

“Do you want the stroganoff over the noodles or separate?” the young man behind the counter asked. Apparently the word he hadn’t been able to read was stroganoff, good to know.

“Separate, try to keep them all separate if you can.” he said, that way if one is cold or bad it won’t contaminate the others. Molly was mainly concerned about the stroganoff but it never hurt to be cautious. Watching carefully as all three plates were filled with the food and each portion was kept as far apart as possible given the size of the plates. Placing them back on the tray he turned towards Teal’c hoping that the man would show him to where the drink dispensers and the bread was. 

He was overjoyed when he saw the label displaying grapes on one of the drink dispensers, and though he thought it was strange that this place would serve wine out of what looked like a tapped cask like ale, he wasn’t going to turn down any sort of alcohol, as long as the wine hadn’t turned to vinegar he wasn’t going to complain. The glass was filled with a deep purple red liquid that had a bit of a strange froth on the top; it obviously wasn’t very good wine but he would take what he could get. He filled two glasses from the tap labeled with what looked like an apple for both boys and it was very obviously a heavily watered down cider. As a precaution he also filled three glasses with water. Once again when it came to food and drink it was better to be safe than sorry. The bread was easily visible in a clear box and seemed to be pre-sliced. Molly grabbed two slices for Caleb, and while it seemed unusually soft hopefully it would be fine. It took some maneuvering and eventually Caleb had to take two of the glasses of water, and Teal’c offering to place two of the other glasses on his own tray before Molly could carry the tray one handed without spilling its contents onto the floor.

“I recommend the red Jello if you’re looking for something sweet.” Teal’c offered indicating the dessert case before they left the area for the tables. He had no idea what Jello was but hopefully it was more appetizing than what had been offered up as lunch. A glance at the case brightly colored gelatinous cubes in red and acid green. Hazarding a glance at Caleb whose eyes had gotten wide, Molly was sure that if he hadn’t been so focused on holding the glasses the case would be burning from a well placed Firebolt. At least they were confined. Nope, these people could eat miniature carnivorous gelatinous acid monsters in lurid colors all they wanted, but he and his wizards would be far away from them when they did it.

“Ah yeah, we’re going to pass on that thanks. We’re not much for sweet things,” nervously laughing the offer off. Instead he opted to drift towards one of the many tables in the common area of this little tavern room. One table in particular caught his eye as it appeared incongruously fancy compared to the rest of the tables. It was covered in a white table cloth and only had a single chair and place setting. A single white tapered candle stood next to a glass vase tied with a yellow ribbon containing single long stemmed red rose. Molly would have thought that it was a romantic place setting if not for the fact that the table contained a single place setting and chair. The glass was turned down and the plate contained a single slice of some sort of yellow fruit and a pile of what might be salt or sugar. All in all it looked eerily like some sort of shrine with an offering of some sort. He made a note to sit as far away from that corner as possible, no need to disturb whatever deity they worshipped here by disturbing the shrine. He wasn’t Jester after all.

He ended up picking a table towards the back with no other tables behind him and a clear view of the doors. The lack of windows in this place was starting to get to him. He had hoped that food meant leaving this strange combination of barracks, laboratories, and creepy teleportation ring room. As Mollymauk set Essek in the chair to his left and Caleb set both water glasses on the edge of the table (so close to the edge that Molly had to push them back for fear of them spilling) and clambered up onto the chair to his right, he realized that he had forgotten to grab cutlery. A questioning glance towards Teal’c and he was pointed in the direction of a display with silver handles sticking out of cups. Grabbing three forks he passed by a fruit bowl, and grabbed a few fruits he was familiar with one suggestively shaped yellow one that he didn’t know but looked entertaining if for nothing else than the reactions he could possibly get out of people with it. After all fruit generally kept fairly well and was a good fall back if the food proved to be off.

Caleb’s face and exasperated groan of his name as Molly sat down with the forks and and fruit was classic, and a much needed pick me up compared to the uncomfortable anxiety of earlier. He hadn’t expected the blank look and slow shake of the head from Essek but it was almost satisfying to get a reaction out the Drow. All joking aside he was glad to see the wizards start eating. Picking at his own it wasn’t bad, and the stew was still surprisingly warm and given this fact, even though his hadn’t seen any obvious magic or enchantments, he suspected that there was some sort of enchantments on metal tubs themselves to keep things hot or cold. At this point they were eating in silence, Molly was waiting for Teal’c to ask whatever was on the man’s mind. The gold branded warrior had been intently observing them from the time they had all left the infirmary. He was curious as to what the man was thinking. However it was Caleb who broke the silence first, practically standing on his chair to reach for one of the papery handkerchiefs piled in the center of the table, spitting his mouthful of bread into it.

“Hey Mr. Caleb, what’s wrong with the bread?” Sure it had, had a different texture than bread normally had but that shouldn’t have garnered that reaction. Was there something wrong with it? Had it been tampered with after all it was just sitting there in that clear box.

“That is not bread.” His pint sized wizard bit out his Zemnian accent turning the words into a near growl of disgust. Curious Molly grabbed the untouched slice and tore a piece off shoving it in his mouth. He was utterly unprepared for the cloying sweetness that bloomed across his tongue. Forcing himself to swallow, he grimaced at Caleb.

“Okay, I agree that tasted like Jester’s idea of what bread should taste like. I’m sorry Caleb, I think we’ll have to wait for good bread until we get home. Everything good with you Essek?” he asked checking in with the other wizard. A glance revealed that the Drow had had eaten the beef stew dish and the potatoes and was currently picking his way through the mixed vegetables for the carrot chunks. Okay at least it looked like he didn’t have much to worry about there. Gods between the silent scrutiny of Teal’c and the stress of the trying make sure that his wizards were taken care of properly that cheap glass of wine was looking better and better. Another quick check in on Caleb revealed him sullenly eating the potatoes and picking at both the noodles and beef stew. _Okay, I really hope I don’t regret this. It’s just one glass of what is most likely shitty wine, not even enough to get me drunk._ The sugary flood of liquid that tasted nothing like the cheap wine he was expecting and clearly didn’t have alcohol in it at all. _Gods these are people after Jester’s own heart when it came to food._

“Sorry, we’re not used to so much sweetness, with the exception of the pastries our friend insists on eating.” Molly said after gulping half of the water he had grabbed in reserve. It wouldn’t do to insult their hosts especially since there was nowhere for them to go.

“I had forgotten how overwhelming the flavors of Earth’s food could be. I apologize for not warning you.” _Hmm, interesting so Teal’c isn’t from this plane good to know._ That could also explain the faint squirming sounds and occasional high pitched screeing noise from the vicinity of the man’s gut. The suspicious glances he caught Essek giving the man from within the shadowed confines of the hood and smoked glass lenses proved that it wasn’t just his imagination.

*********

It was an interesting contrast watching a clearly skilled warrior expertly survey his surroundings, weigh his options, and at the same time competently and gently ensuring that the children in his care were taken care of. There was a softness there that Teal’c had not expected but appreciated none the less. It made him wonder what it would be like if he were to have a more direct hand in raising Rya’c. It implied positive things, he felt, about the world these individuals had come from. He was especially curious about the man’s fighting style, and if all of Mollymauk’s people were trained in the same style. Perhaps without Colonel Jack O’Neill’s presence, which seemed to antagonize the warrior, he would finally get the opportunity to ask.

“Tell me are all of your people trained to fight as you are? It is a very distinctive style and clearly requires great skill.” He asked, after the man seemed to have gotten everything under control ensuring that the children were fed first. The horned man looked up from his plate training his unsettling eyes on him.

“Circus people? Not really, I’m pretty unique in that regard. I mean I was back up muscle but really Yasha handled all of that. Though really anyone who travels the roads knows some form of fighting. There are a lot of dangers once you’re away from the civilized areas and their contingents of Crown’s Guard. Though even in large cities there are dangers that even the Crown’s Guard aren’t capable of handling. Hell the first job we took in Zadash proved that. We were hired to try and find and kill whatever was stalking the sewers. Turns out it was giant fucking spider that could phase in and out of existence.” He wasn’t sure if Mollymauk was deliberately misdirecting or if he genuinely misunderstood the question. Though it seemed to be the latter pausing at Teal’c’s expression and gave a rueful smile.

“You meant my people in regards to my race, I wouldn’t know we seem to be pretty rare. I’ve only met one other and she certainly doesn’t fight like me. I was raised in a cult, I don’t even know who my parents are. I learned to fight there it wasn’t pleasant but I had an aptitude for it. I think they’re responsible for eighty percent of my scars. Needless to say that I covered as much of them up as I could when I made my escape. Managed to steal their so called sacred swords when I left as I did so.” The flippant response belied the disturbing information, it reminded him far to much of the Goa’uld’s influence on the Jaffa’s culture. If his understanding of the Tau’ri definition of a cult it was an apt description of the Jaffa’s relationship to the system lords, though with an aspect of slavery. It was a disheartening thing to hear that another warrior had been raised in a similar situation. Though there was a kinship there in that they both had realized that their leader was a false god and broke free.

“This cult, you believe they stole you from your parents?” Maybe if he learned more about this cult and it’s training methods then Teal’c could figure out more about this planet that Mollymauk was from. It was interesting that it seemed every planet suffered from false gods, honestly he doubted there were true gods in the universe at all.

“Well I’d assume so, or they were sold into the slave trade, and I was sold or given to the cult. There was as reason why I said I was worth more as living merchandise than a dead example. My people are highly prized in the slave trade, particularly among flesh peddlers for our exoticism. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that a cult dedicated to one of the Betrayer Gods would be involved with that sort of thing” Mollymauk’s voice was distracted, he was resolutely not looking at Teal’c instead rolling an orange between his hands, food forgotten.

“Anyway good riddance to those assholes, I’ll forever be grateful to Gustav and Desmond for allowing me to shelter with the carnival. After all I had to keep on the move, they kind of wanted the swords back. They didn’t keep to a set route. We kind of just traveled in a vague direction always within Empire territory though, at least while I was with them.” Mollymauk’s grin was bright but there was an almost mask like quality to it. Interesting that implied that his culture had multiple gods, gods that enslaved their populace.

“Betrayer Gods?”

*********

“Question for a question, yeah? I don’t give information away for free. I’ll tell you about the Betrayer Gods if you tell me why I keep hearing squirming noises from around your gut, and don’t try to lie to me my friend and say that you’re just hungry. Because stomach’s don’t make screeing noises.” Truthfully Molly didn’t know why he decided to mash together a mixture of the outrageous lie he told the group of misfits that would become his new family that first night and what little bit of the truth he new about that asshole Lucien. Other than the obvious reason in that it was both plausible and didn’t invite further questions about his past. Mix in a little bit about slavery, keep reminding them that his friends were still in danger, for he knew they still were, and good dash of scary implications of evil gods and it was a recipe for a great story. 

“You are able to hear my Primta? That is impressive.” There was a wondering sort appreciation in his voice. Which was odd there were plenty of other races with much sharper senses than his own, Elves in particular.

“If you you think that’s impressive then you obviously haven’t met those with truly impressive senses. So Primta, not going to lie when the lovely doctor mentioned hitchhikers last night, I thought she meant whatever was making that noise. But it’s a little more complicated than that me thinks.” He wished he had his tarot deck if only to give his hands something to do, now that he was finished with his meal. However, he only had only managed to find a single card in his pocket; The Moon. If that wasn’t a sign, that the Moonweaver still watched over him he didn’t know what was. He certainly needed her aid as the patron mistress of illusions and deception.

*********

His reponse was deceptively light with an edge of laughter but Teal’c could hear the steel beneath it. He truly was a warrior of a different sort all laughter and masks hiding a core of strength. He was still very curious about what sort of culture produced warriors such as Mollymauk whose fighting style both physical and verbal was reminiscent smoke and reflective surfaces. However, perhaps relating the ills that the Goa’uld had inflicted upon his race, much similar to upbringing that Mollymauk had relayed to him, would garner more trust.

“The Goa’uld altered my people to make us dependent on them. After a certain age my people’s immune systems fail and we require a larval Goa’uld, a Primta, implanted into a pouch in our abdomen to survive. They set themselves up as gods, immortal and omniscient, who can either spare our lives or condemn us to a slow agonizing death if we displease them. They incubate their young in us in exchange for our survival. We are brought up knowing that we will serve these gods, the highest honor is the position of first prime. This gold brand is the symbol of that honor.” He wasn’t able to keep the bitterness out of his voice. The expression on Mollymauk’s face when he finally met the other’s gaze was a mix of disgust and rage in addition to a calculating gleam that Teal’c didn’t quite understand.

“That’s sick; but if we manage to rescue my friends, maybe our lovely cleric could do something about that. What do you think Caleb? Do you think Jester could help this man?” That last was directed toards the red haired child who seemed to be playing with the salt shaker. Glancing up in response to the question, the boy seemed to think about it and shrugged, “Possibly.”

Unsure of what to make of that exchange, after all there was nothing that could be done to fix what the Goa’uld had done to his people. SG-1 had tried after they were informed about the issue and need for Primta. However it was generous of them to consider lending their aid.

“Well I suppose I should hold up my end of the bargain. The Betrayer Gods are those gods that sided against the Prime Deities during the founding of world. They’re a nasty bunch, the kind that venerate and feed off of death and misery, that sort of thing. Bad news all around if you catch my drift. Their worship pretty much universally outlawed in every civilized land. Though there will always be those who are drawn to or fall under their sway.” Somehow he thought that wasn’t quite the full truth but if these were false gods much like the Goa’uld then it would make sense that he would shy away from talking about them in detail. However, his mention of the Prime Deities was interesting. He had gotten the impression that the vast majority of people from their guests’ planet weren’t governed by the worship of gods. Especially with the disgusted mention of cults that sacrificed people to their supposed deity.

“Can you tell me about these Prime Deities, I was under the impression that your people did not worship any gods and that those who did were cults.” Perhaps if he found out what gods these people worshipped Daniel Jackson could trace where they were from, or if other known races such as the Asgard had visited them in the past.

“Well there’s the Empire approved deities: the Raven Queen, the Platinum Dragon, the Allhammer, the Lawbearer, the Knowing Mistress, and the Dawnfather. Worship of any other deities (Prime, Betrayer, or otherwise) is prohibited and punishable by fine and imprisonment if you aren’t able to pay the frankly exorbitant fines. So as we found out in Hupperdook if you’re poor and you worship an unapproved deity well you’re screwed, within the Dwendalian Empire at least. They don’t even care about if you have kids or not. I shudder to think about others who don’t have a pack of friendly assholes willing to fight a rogue golem thing guarding the prison in exchange for the warden waiving the fine because your kids stole these assholes stuff in an attempt to survive without you. It was pretty fucked up.” That was the second time that Mollymauk had mentioned an empire, a word that invoked images of white armored warriors marching in formation and ominous music. Thanks to a series of movies that Colonel Jack O’Neill insisted was mandatory viewing for all citizens of Earth. From the description of the injustices and regulation of the population’s beliefs right down to having approved gods perhaps all empires were evil, certainly the System Lords also fit that description.

“You mentioned that those were the Empire approved deities, are there others that aren’t approved but also aren’t considered Betrayer God’s?” He received a quicksilver grin and a chuckle in response, it was almost as if he was being invited to share in a joke.

“But of course, there’s the Stormlord (near and dear to Yasha’s heart), I personally follow the Moonweaver, there’s also the Archeart, and Jester is follower of the Traveler (personally I’ve never heard of him before, could be new or just buried so deep he’s been forgotten), Caleb care to help me out on the one’s I’ve missed?” None of these names sounded familiar, but maybe Daniel Jackson could puzzle more out of this information. Caleb looked up from his fiddling with the salt shaker and in a quiet and slow voice said, “The Wildmother, the Everlight, and the Changebringer.”

“Right, sorry I’ve taken a few nasty hits and my memory can be spotty at times. Now is there anything else you’d like to know, I’m no cleric but I can talk philosophy with the best of them. Purely from a speculative position of course.” His demeanor was all show and there was something about his words that was almost but not quite disingenuous. Just what kind of god did this warrior follow that encouraged the kind of misdirection that Mollymauk seemed to cultivate. And just why was worship of these other gods outlawed within this Dwendalian Empire, if they weren’t part of these Betrayer Gods?

“Tell me more about the god you worship, how do you know they’re a true god? Why is their worship outlawed? What does your god require you to do?” The dazzling smile that was more challenge than anything genuine softened a hair.

“I don’t have to know if she’s real or not. I just feel her presence when I look night sky. She’s the goddess of moonlight and autumn, the patron mistress of illusions, misdirection and the protector of all lovers and those who must meet in secrecy under her gaze. As for why the Empire has banned her worship and countless others, control all the Prime Deities that they’ve outlawed either represent change, wildness, ideas that don’t fall in line with the Empire’s rigid and unquestioning views. She encourages people to question authority, can you can see why a joyless authoritarian government would want to quash that.” A goddess of misdirection and illusions that certainly did much to explain his demeanor and fighting style, even his verbal sparring was as much feint and fade slipping around questions with ease. Which meant that there was every bit of a chance a chance that Mollymauk was deliberately misleading them all; however, Teal’c believed that his actions spoke louder than his words did and the care with which he took with both children was the truest estimation of the man’s character.

“Now I’m but a humble supplicant not one of her clerics that she makes demands of, and even if I were it would most likely be only that I faithfully serve her in the truest and most joyful sense of worship with other individuals (and let’s face it I try to do that anyway and as often as possible). Otherwise the only other demand that she would possibly make is a yearly pilgrimage to see her ribbons illuminate the sky. In my case other than trying to live my life according to her tenants is tell my fortunes and praying over my swords in the moonlight. Simple as that.” That was very different from his experience with gods. No demands, no direct interference, perhaps that was how true gods were supposed to be. It seemed a strange concept to him, who had not believed in gods since realizing the truth that the Goa’uld were not true gods. Before he could continue his questioning he noticed the other man’s expression shutter into something closed and hard, following his gaze towards the cafeteria’s entrance. Framed in the doorway was Colonel Jack O’Neill, Major Samantha Carter, and Daniel Jackson, worryingly he noticed that they were all carrying TERs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bread scene was based on the complaints that many of my German and European friends have in regards to American bread is that it is far to sweet, and when you take into account that many of the commercially produced breads are made with High Fructose Corn Syrup, which has three times the amount of sucrose and glucose than any naturally occurring sugar, it would taste ridiculously sweet to someone whose from a world where they don't have scientifically created additives like that. Also fun fact grape juice wasn't invented until 1869 when pasteurization became a thing because of the high sugar count they couldn't stop it from fermenting into wine. So Molly mistaking the grape juice for wine was based on that bit of trivia.


	14. I Saw the Sign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daniel Jackson adds two and two together and actually manages to arrive at 3.5 and not fish and Jack is having a very bad day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I apologize that this chapter is like two weeks late. I'm not going to lie I struggled with this chapter so hard. I had to walk away from it multiple times, I have rewritten it multiple times. I am still not completely happy with how this chapter turned out. Also the other factor is that my D&D group's DM just got back from a 6 month business trip so our game has started up again, which likely means that chapters will be coming every other week since I do actually have to sleep at some point. 
> 
> That being said I hope the length of this chapter makes up for how long it took me to get it written. Also once again thank you to those of you who review this story, it quite honestly makes me incredibly happy to hear that you enjoy this fic.

“I don’t understand what was wrong with the shoes. Why put them on and then reject them? I get last night’s outburst, kids can be a little dramatic over doctor’s visits at the best of times, but what was wrong with the shoes?” the quiet pause in Jack’s voice told Daniel that he was steadfastly avoiding saying Charlie’s name.

“Sir, you bought the shoes didn’t you?” Sam’s deadpan response, forced him stifle a snicker at Jack’s expense. He had seen this kind of behavior from Jack before with Skarra on Abydos, the gift of the puppy for Cassie, Jack desperately wanted the kids to be safe and happy. Sam and Jack had been filling him in on the events and revelations of the morning’s emergency medical exam as Janet had taken her TER and promptly headed down to sweep the infirmary muttering something about sizing back braces and formulating dietary supplements. Which had lead to Jack’s not quite a rant about Essek’s behavior so far, they would never comment on it but it was clear that he was clearly trying to distract himself from the fact that they couldn’t let Caleb keep the necklace in addition to the possibility of another Reetou like intruder being loose in the Mountain.

Speaking of which their sweeps with the TERs resulted in nothing out of the ordinary which had the possibility of meaning that there was the probability that they might not work at all for this entity. After all the Reetou hadn’t appeared in reflective surfaces this individual had. He would be willing to bet that more than anything was what had Jack and Sam on edge. Though something was bound to turn up between BDOC combing through every piece of security footage of the last forty-eight hours for anything odd, and the canvasing sweeps of the TERs. General Hammond had not been amused to find out that they had been put in the one room that was not bugged, usually reserved for Military and US Government visitors. After all they weren’t supposed to spy on their own people. Frankly with the NID running loose he personally felt that all the rooms should have been monitored, but the powers that be disagreed.

“He doesn’t seem to understand or speak English those tantrum’s may just be his attempts to communicate with us in some way.” She had a point but Daniel didn’t think that was it, not entirely. Almost absentmindedly he threw out, “It’s possible, but the more likely reason he refused the shoes is that they hurt his back and hips.”

He was so lost in his thoughts, chewing on some of the incongruities that his cataloging of the trio’s belongings reveals, that his next sweep nearly ran him into Sam and Jack who had stopped dead in their tracks to look at him quizzically.

“Care to share with the class what you mean by that?” Jack drawled. _Oh right_ , what was obvious to him wasn’t always obvious to everyone else.

“Did you know that invention of shoes, particularly shoes with thick rubber soles fundamentally changed the way humans walked,” he could see both of them getting ready to ask questions and Daniel held up the hand not holding the TER to forestall any questions, before continuing, “The added cushioning caused us to start walking heel to toe with most of the impact and weight being on the heel of the foot which puts more strain on your knees, ankles, hips, and lower back. You said he has scoliosis, depending on where the bend in his spine is he would most likely have been able to tell if they would cause him pain within minutes of putting them on.”

Sam’s eyes widened as she processed what he was saying, “The bend is just above his hips.”

“That would explain it. He would have been acutely aware of the difference, especially since it appears that shoes on their planet are more similar to extent shoes from the middle ages and early modern periods of our history; where the sole is a piece of thick vegetable tanned leather and what heel if any is made of either wood or more vegetable tanned leather stacked to the desired height of the heel and laminated with animal hide glue which was then attached to the shoe with cobbler’s nails and then burnished. At least judging by Mollymauk’s boots.” The bemused expression on Jack’s face was a telling sign that he would be in for some good natured ribbing over this knowledge at some point.

“You know every time I tell myself that I can’t be surprised by the things you know, you always manage to surprise me.” Jack said with a huff of laughter. It wasn’t exactly an uncommon misconception regarding archaeology and cultural anthropology that it was all about the artifacts(jewelry, pots, statues, and buildings) and what they could tell about the people who built them or used them. It was just as much about the remains of their garbage, clothing, the wear and tear that was present on the bodies found during the digs as well.

“Clothing is a huge part of determining the age, socio-economic status, and even authenticity of a site. That’s in part because if a tomb or grave site had been looted most times they left the clothing. Think about it how many times have you judged someone’s social status (their socio-economic class) just by what they’re wearing? It’s why I’m ninety percent sure that Essek is nobility or upper class at the very minimum. Possibly from a family with some political importance.” That last statement caught them off guard as they finished their sweeps of the current floor and piled into the elevator heading down towards the SG-1 dining facility.

“How do you figure that?” Sam asked settling against the elevator’s back wall.

“One, his are pierced, historically most cultures don’t pierce their children’s ears so young; unless, they are in the upper echelons of the nobility. Especially not with silver and higher grades of metal, it’s saying look we have enough wealth that we can adorn our vulnerable children in it. Two, the shirt he was wearing last night was handwoven silk in a color that is very difficult to achieve even with actinic dyes which we know they have judging by Mollymauk’s coat, so we know their planet has some form of industrialization using coal at least. However, given that the shirt was sized for an adult that’s not necessarily a reliable indicator, though Essek being the only one of the three wearing silk is. If I had to rank their social status’ Essek has the highest social standing, then Caleb, and Mollymauk the lowest just based on the clothing they were wearing when we found them.” That got him some startled looks, so much so that he felt compelled to add, “This pure speculation based on Earth’s cultural and historic practices. I could be wrong given some of the inconsistencies I’ve run into with their personal effects among other things.”

"Inconsistencies? Like Caleb having the cloaking technology and not Essek? If your guess is correct then why would Caleb be the one with the cloaking technology and not the child who is ‘worth’ more by their society’s standards, so to speak.” Jack’s question was a good one and just one of the many details that was driving Daniel to distraction; between the linguistic anomalies (between Caleb’s books, the languages each one of them spoke, and the implications from the origins of their names including the names of others they’ve mentioned), and the contents of their personal effects. He knew he was missing something and if he could just find that piece he was sure that everything would fall into place.

“Among other things, I need more information before I can make sense of some of them. Speaking of which do you think General Hammond would give the okay for me to send some of the photos of the text in one of Caleb’s books to Catherine Langford to distribute among her colleagues to see if we can get an identification on the language?” The elevator jolted to a stop on the cafeteria level cutting their conversation short. Holding their TERs at the ready and making a sweep in front of them, the three of them stepped into the hallway leading to the double doors of the cafeteria.

“Why? If you can’t identify it then how would her colleagues recognize it?” Well that was flattering knowing that his team’s faith in his ability to find information was that high, but really he wasn’t a subject matter expert for all the cultures that they had encountered off world that had been transplanted from Earth. Also if his suspicions were correct then while there was some overlap with biblical and Egyptian archaeology it was much later than what he needed.

“Given some of the inconsistencies I’ve encountered linguistically, I think we might need a biblical archaeologist with a background in ancient biblical languages to take a look at this text. Also if what I suspect about their planet is true we may need to contact Thor.” Both Sam and Jack stopped just short of the doors and looked at him.

“Biblical?” they asked nearly in unison. He really didn’t want to explain his reasoning when he was only grasping at fragments currently and didn’t have concrete proof to back it up. While logically Daniel knew that his team had trusted his theories with less information and even thinner proof, that had been information that he had been relatively confident of, this situation was reminiscent of the theory that had landed him in Stargate Command in the first place. A gut feeling that it was correct, plenty of circumstantial evidence and theory that they weren’t going to want to hear or believe.

“The name Caleb, it’s origin is Hebrew for _callev_ or ‘dog’ or _collev_ ‘whole-hearted’. Hebrew as a language developed long after Ra and the System Lords were kicked off of Earth.” He let that information sink in before pressing forward and pushing the doors open, revealing Teal’c Mollymauk, and the boys sitting at a table towards the back of the cafeteria seemingly deep in conversation. Without distinguishable pupils or sclera it was difficult to see where Mollymauk’s gaze was falling; however, it was glaringly obvious when he saw them as the horned man’s friendly expression closed and was replaced by a distrustful stillness. 

*********

Still no sign of their invisible man which was honestly setting his teeth on edge. Jack didn’t think it was coincidence that what this thing or person took was one of Mollymauk’s swords, he hadn’t gotten a good look at them but he was almost positive they weren’t ordinary swords to be able to go through a Jaffa’s armor like that. _Time for showdown number three_ , He thought steeling himself for what was going to most likely be an ugly conversation. He wasn’t looking forward to this, especially not with how adamantly Mollymauk had refused to let anyone remove Caleb’s necklace. Which should have been a red flag in the first place that there was something up with it. Making for the table he saw Sam and Daniel branch out to sweep for their unseen guest. Speaking of Daniel the fact that he was being cagey about his theories meant that he was doubting the information that he had and too many things about their guests weren’t adding up.

His thoughts carried him closer to the table and he saw Teal’c glance back over his shoulder towards him. It seemed like he and Mollymauk had been deep in some conversation prior to Jack’s arrival. He caught Mollymauk saying, “A good rule to remember, if they have to tell you they’re gods, then they aren’t. Just think on it, my friend. If you’re interested in continuing our conversation later, well, I’ll be right here I suppose.”

The smile the man turned on Jack then was all teeth. _Yep, this was going to get ugly, all right._ Hopefully it didn’t end in seeing how the horned man’s hand to hand combat skills were. It would probably be the better part of valor to ease into the issue of Caleb’s necklace and the missing sword. Besides if this thing followed them through the Stargate it would be better to find out if it was something that came from Mollymauk’s planet or if it was from the planet they had been found on.

“What can I do for you, Colonel? Anymore tests that you want to subject us to?” The tone matched the smile’s teeth and had all the deceptive friendliness of a shark’s grin. Both boy’s had stopped eating and were now staring at him warily, at least Jack assumed Essek was staring at him it was hard to tell with the hood of the sweatshirt up and the sunglasses he was wearing.

“No I’m afraid I was volunteered to be the bearer of bad news in addition to needing to ask you a couple of questions.” He didn’t miss the way Caleb flinched at that statement, nor the way Mollymauk’s eyes narrowed for a moment before forcibly relaxing into wary stillness that would have been more at home on a sniper sighting a target. At least the cafeteria was almost empty.

“Oh? And what, pray tell, would you need to know, that I haven’t already told you?” The response was punctuated with an edge of threat. One hand moved to, as subtly as possible, move Essek’s chair closer to Mollymauk and away from both Teal’c and him; while Mollymauk’s tail did the same for Caleb’s chair. He might as well bite the bullet and ask about invisible people before admitting that they had lost one of the man’s swords.

“I don’t suppose that there are people or things that can be invisible on your planet?”

*********

Molly was so very, very glad that he had experience improvising through his initial gut instinct panic reactions and also that his tail was still wrapped around Caleb’s chair so that it couldn’t give away the panic that flooded through his body at those words. Had they found out about Artagan? He wasn’t sure that the Archfey wasn’t physically here, honestly he had no fucking clue how this whole patron thing worked. He was mostly certain that Artagan wasn’t physically here but what if he was wrong. _Relax, pet, they can search this entire base with their little devices and never come close to finding me._ Not for the first time he was glad that he had a devil’s eyes and not more normal ones, because it was only experience that kept his vaguely threatening smile in place and his unease from showing on his face. Time to play a very familiar game of deflection. Before he could say anything however Teal’c spoke, “You told me about a creature on your world that you fought called a phase spider, that could phase in and out of reality. It wouldn’t be too far of a guess that there were other beings that could do the same thing.”

_Damn you, okay I’ve got this._ Letting the threatening grin widen into something lazily unconcerned he responded, “It’s possible, I haven’t personally run into anything, I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume, humanoid; but, I’ve heard of others who have. Why do you ask?”

O’Neill looked pained as he spoke, “Ahh, that would be the bad news I’m afraid. Around two in the morning one of your swords went missing from our custody. It appeared to vanish into thin air nothing was caught on the security footage except a reflection of a hooded figure where no figure appeared in the room.”

_You said they could search this entire base and not find you. How sure are you of that?_ He thought at Artagan even as he deflected, “I hope you don’t think that I was responsible, because I hate to break it to you that the three of us didn’t leave the room until you so rudely scared us awake.”

His voice was pitched to a tone that he knew irritated Beau like nothing else. Somewhere between this is so obvious that only a fool would miss it and laughter at the recipient’s expense. Sure enough he could see O’Neill grit his teeth before shooting a calculating glance towards Caleb. He didn’t like that look at all, it made him wasn’t to his wizard away from whatever thoughts O’Neill had to put that look on his face. Surely he couldn’t think that his pint sized wizard was Artagan or was somehow involved or responsible. _Relax, I let them see my reflection to give them another avenue to pursue other than you, though they seem to have jumped to the wrong conclusions, pity._ Of course, Archfey, why leave a mystery that he could reasonably explain away, when it was so much more fun to throw a cat among the pigeons and watch the fallout. Now it looks like they suspected his pint sized wizard was involved or responsible. Most people didn’t suspect apparent kids of high level and stakes theft. What the fuck had these people encountered that they would immediately think that? Unless they had cottoned on to the fact that Caleb could do magic. He resolved that the first chance he got the next time he was in that dreamscape with Artagan that he was going to punch his patron in the face.

*********

_So our invisible man is from their world, not the world we found them on. Good to know._ There was always the possibility that Mollymauk had taken the pendant snuck out grabbed one of his swords and snuck back to their room and hid the sword. It would after all explain why there was no one seen on the camera footage and but was seen in the reflection. A blanket could have doubled as the hooded cloak. However that doesn’t explain how he would have gotten past the security forces members stationed at the elevator on the guest quarters floor, nor how he would have known where the swords were in the first place. Unless the necklace could truly make someone invisible to the physical sight not just electronic. He hated himself for even considering this avenue; but, he could effectively kill two birds with one stone and possibly get the answers to this situation if he implied that Caleb had something to do with it. There was always the possibility that Mollymauk would hand over the necklace if he thought that it would keep the boy safe.

“Are you sure you want to claim that? Because we watched the security footage back and whoever took your sword doesn’t show up physically on camera. We also know from watching the security camera footage of your arrival through the stargate that your boy, Caleb, also doesn’t show up on camera. You made quite the fuss over his necklace, so we know that’s the cause of his little invisibilty trick. So how can we be sure that he was in the room all night or that you didn’t borrow the necklace and sneak out?” He really hated playing bad cop, seriously Teal’c had the better expression for it. Jack was just hoping that there weren’t any NID moles in BDOC. The last thing he needed right now was that creep Maybourne sticking his nose in and whisking Mollymauk and Essek off to Area 51. _Please just work with me here._

No dice; other than Caleb starting to look half way to frantic, hand coming up to clutch at the pendent underneath his clothes, the tense stand off didn’t change. _Time to increase the pressure,_ “It’s pretty suspicious. I honestly expected you to be a little more upset that one of your belongings was stolen, especially one as important as a weapon.”

The look he got in response to that statement was flatly unimpressed.

“You don’t know me very well then, I’ve never owned more than I could carry on me until very recently. Things can be replaced, people can’t. The only things that we carried with us that aren’t replaceable are Caleb’s books for the sentimental value, you know. So unless you’re about to tell me that they have gone missing as well, I’m not going to get upset. It’s replaceable, it’s unfortunate that it was stolen, yes; but, give me three days in a larger city with my tarot deck and I can earn earn back enough to replace it. Speaking of which, which one went missing?” _Okay, note to self, bad cop doesn’t work when someone has the same outlook as a zen hippie. Time to change tactics._

“The one with the gold plated blade. By the way that can’t have kept a decent edge.” He probably should have expected the amused smile he got in return for that statement, given the handle he was starting to get on Mollymauk’s personality.

“Well I did steal them from the cult I grew up in. They were more ceremonial than functional.” He could believe that the ram-horned man had grown up in a cult, he could even believe that the swords were ceremonial in nature given the fact that the one had clearly been plated with gold and engraved/sculpted to be very ornate. However if his words were true, then that meant that he had taken out Jaffa with swords that were more ornamental than functional and were not meant for heavy combat. A cold trickle of warning ran along his spine as Teal’c’s assessment last night of Mollymauk’s abilities suddenly seemed more ominous.

“Now I have no idea what a camera is or what you mean by security camera footage. Caleb got any ideas?” Daniel’s words earlier about the suspected social classes of their guests in relation to each other echoed in Jack’s mind. That was the second or third time that Mollymauk had deferred to Caleb for clarification of something he didn’t understand. The situation was starting to piece itself together into a picture he wasn’t sure how to address. Jack watched Caleb’s eyes widen as he seemed to come to a conclusion.

“Scrying.” That word must have meant something to Mollymauk and he made a note to ask Daniel if the word meant anything to him.

*********

_So that’s why you didn’t want them to take Caleb’s necklace._ Molly thought accusingly at his patron. He only received a skirl of laughter across the surface of his mind in response. That was just great how could he justify them allowing Caleb to keep his necklace if these people were so paranoid that they were scrying on their own people in this place.

_You could just tell them the truth, Pet. It’s for his own protection. They seem to be very invested in his well-being. You’re good at spinning a story, if worse comes to worse then I’ll amplify your natural abilities enough to convince them._ That might work. He had known that Caleb was running from something; but to have an amulet that hid him from scrying spells and presumably other attempts to locate or observe him, that spoke of desperation and the kind of bone deep terror that spoke of enemies in high places. His chest suddenly felt as if it had been gripped in a giant’s fist at the thought that his family’s wizard had been running scared for so long that he didn’t know who to trust or how to relax anymore. Turning a devil’s smile full of promises and teeth on O’Niell. Time for a little Jester style mischief.

“Oh, my. If you wanted a show; you only had to ask, my friend, I’m not at all shy.” Innuendo dripped from his words thick as honey. More laughter danced through his head. _Oh, my pet, you truly are..delightful._ For a moment Molly almost thought that his patron had started to say almost instead of delightful, like he wanted to compare Molly to something or someone else. O’Neill on the other hand looked like he had tried to swallow his tongue. Teal’c sadly hadn’t reacted beyond a raised eyebrow, pity he would have to try harder to get a good reaction out of the man (Jaffa) before they got home to Wildemount.

“That’s a dangerous thing to joke about here.” O’Neill finally said, after he found his tongue again. He was making things too easy for Molly and he could tell that Caleb saw it too. He also noticed that Caleb’s pupils had started to blow wide and his hand was starting to tremble where it was clutched around the pendent. Mollymauk could feel the humming static feeling of Caleb’s magic start to prickle along his right side. Thankfully the tell tale rise in temperature didn’t accompany it.

“Who said I joking.” He could feel his smile start to melt into a smirk at the man’s pained wince, before finally moving to play his trump. He had already set the groundwork with Teal’c, time to sell it further. “Though you’re right, fun can wait until later. That necklace is for Caleb’s protection and any attempts to remove it will be viewed as hostile intent. Unless you want them to find Caleb.” Molly allowed a bit of a challenge bleed into his voice as changed his posture leaning forward slightly palms braced against the edge of the table. He could probably flip the table onto O’Neill if he moved quick enough. Summoning his pact blade would give the game away but his wizard’s safety came first.

“Explain,” the response was clipped and short; Molly noticed that Sam and Daniel seemed to have finished their search for Artagan and were drifting over to flank O’Neill.

“The necklace prevents anyone from finding Caleb by…esoteric means, shall we say. I told you we only had a direction to point in for who was responsible for those scars. All I can say is that we have the name of an organization that’s very highly placed within the Empire and the lawmaster would not be on our side if you catch my drift. Now before you say something about us not even being on our ‘world’ anymore, there are a dozen or more ways to track someone, even on a different plane. I knew a girl in the cult I grew up in who could track you anywhere no matter how far away you were, even through the nine hells, as long as she had some of your blood. The only reason I managed to escape was because she was convinced that I was dead, thanks to a ritual gone wrong. I found out a few months ago that the cult disbanded because the leader died. She was working for The Gentleman, why do you think we kept working for him after we knew what kind of an employer he was.” Molly could see the skepticism still painted across O’Neill’s face; however, both Sam and Daniel looked intrigued. O’Neill was the one he had to convince, he was the one clearly the one with the most pull here, that he had physically met so far. Maybe it was time to let just a wisp of his devil’s tongue free. Taking a breath he let a hint of charm bleed into his voice.

“We’re willing to submit to physical watch at all times, if it will make you and your superiors feel better. But I’m not willing to compromise the safety of a member of my family. I can promise that your people would find out the hard way the full extent of what I’m capable of should anyone attempt to remove that amulet.” A blink and Molly saw the Charm Person take hold and he internally loosed a sigh of relief. O’Neill sighed, “I’ll discuss it with General Hammond, it’s ultimately his decision but for now we’ll keep you under surveillance.”

Cursing silently Mollymauk noticed the suspicious glances Teal’c, Sam, and Daniel directing suspicious glances between himself and O’Neill. Maybe he should have tried to Enthrall all of them, but that was far more noticeable.

“Sir?” Sam started to say when Essek suddenly stood in the chair leaning over the table into Teal’c’s space. He traced the symbol on the patch on his arm, seemly entranced by it. Thank the Moonweaver for quick thinking wizards. He could feel the static of Caleb’s magic starting to die down as he slid from the chair under the table to clamber up into the Essek’s chair to get a better a better looked. The Drow traced the symbol looking at Caleb. Kneeling down so that he was eye level with Caleb O’Neill said, “Do you recognize that symbol, little man? That’s the stargate symbol for Earth. That’s where you are right now. Do you remember if that symbol was on the gate you went through?”

His voice was gentle, and Molly was more sure than ever that the man had to be a parent. He watched his wizard trace the symbol a few more times committing it to memory before shrugging. Both wizards shared a look and he noticed that Caleb’s fingers had started to twitch in a very familiar way that spoke of desperation for pen, parchment, and ink.

“I don’t suppose we could go back to the quarters you provided for us? I think that some of us could use a nap, we didn’t get quite as much sleep as we needed last night.” _Please agree I need to find out what my wizards just figured out._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we will be checking back in with the Mighty Nein.


	15. We Scan the Empty Skies, Always Without Success

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beau really really hates when she's right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some parts of this chapter are incredibly ironic having been written before episode 97's bombshell. Given that this story goes completely AU after episode 76 I am declaring this an alternate time line to actual canon and that this timeline's Essek didn't make the choices he did in canon due to smaller changes to his history that I had written before the backstory fill ins of Episode 91. Which will probably result in at least two very interesting one-shots crossing this story over with canon just because I can. 
> 
> Shout out to the wonderful people who review this story, I really do appreciate it an it does keep me motivated to continue writing it and engaged with it. You all are the real MVPs because without your support and engagement I probably would have given up on this story right around the same time that I ended up re-writing a chapter four different times. So thank you for sticking with me for as long as you have.

Beau watched Fjord’s face blanch and knew that if it had been light out his skin would be a sickly shade of yellow-green. Nott’s eyes bugged as she cottoned on to what she wasn’t saying and took another fortifying swig off her flask. “Even worse he went missing along with Caleb and it isn’t exactly a secret that he was trained as a scourger.”

“But it wasn’t intentional. I mean there was no way we could have known that the ruins would highjack Essek’s brain and activate, right? They’ll understand that, won’t they Fjord? Beau? Nott? Caduceus?” Jester’s quavering voice chimed in from behind her, and fuck Jester’s voice wasn’t supposed to sound so sad or unsure. _Dammit, Caleb, you owe me so bad for this mess. Fuck, just please be alright, you and Essek both. I might not trust him completely but he’s good for you. So you two better fucking be alive._

“Jes…” Fjord’s voice trailed off as he tried to figure out what to say without coming out and saying how utterly bad this looked.

“Doesn’t matter, Jes. Intention and foreknowledge isn’t going to be a factor for the Dynasty. All they’re going to see is Empire spies who finally revealed their hand and took out one of the top member’s of the Dynasty’s political structure. Even worse is that it might cast some doubt among the populace about the Bright Queen’s claim about being Umavi, after all a perfect being would not be so easily tricked. She can’t afford to have her population doubt her now, not while the Dynasty is at war.” Beau’s mind was racing in a thousand different directions trying to figure out the best way to get them out of this situation.

“But we’re not spies though. We just wanted Essek to check out the possibly Dunamagic ruins that the Wildmother told Fjord to find.” That meek questioning tone was still in Jester’s voice and when she turned to look at the Tiefling Beau could see her hands worrying at the Travler’s symbol.

“Doesn’t matter, even if the Bright Queen believed us, she would have to throw us in the Dungeon of Penance at the very least; just to reassure her people that she was acting in their best interests.” They were so well and truly boned. There was a thread of a plan, she could see it, but it was risky as hell and if it went south their freedom at the very least would be forfeit.

“So we run. We try to figure out how to get Caleb and Essek back and we don’t say anything until we get them back,” Nott screeched. She could see Fjord weighing the option and visibly hating himself for it. That wasn’t going to work, that was literally the worst idea that they could go with.

“No! No running. Running is the absolute worst thing we could do. Running makes us look guilty. Jester do you have enough juice left to cast Sending twice?” Blinking tears out of her eyes Jester gnawed on her bottom lip as she assessed how much power she had left available to her, “I think so?”

“Okay here’s what we’re going to do. Jester you’re going to send a message first to Dairon warning them that shit’s gone down and they’re going to either be heavily watched or have to bug out quick. Then the next message you’re going to send will be to the Bright Queen. Telling her what just happened.” Predictably the three of them burst into noisy protests.

“We can’t do that! She’ll kill us! Why aren’t we running?”

“Beau, not that I doubt you, but this sounds like a bad idea. Why don’t we just not say anything and bring them back when we find them?”

“Oh but I won’t have enough words, and what if she doesn’t believe us?” They were all talking over each other trying to be heard. Each trying to make their point. Only Caduceus remained silent.

“Anything you want to add Dueces?” She said cutting across the chaos. Caduceus looked up from where he was trying to find enough materials to build a fire in order to keep them alive through the night.

“I think Beau’s right, we need to tell the Bright Queen. Given that Essek is one of her people and we are partially responsible for him going missing.” His slow absentminded response should have been reassuring that someone was at least on her side but instead it just hit home how off balance they all were without Caleb. The others still didn’t look convinced and she knew that she was going to have to spell it out for them.

“Look we don’t know if he told anyone about meeting us here to check out these ruins. It’s what I would do if I were meeting potential spies that I didn’t trust completely. Even if he didn’t, he’s like the third or fourth highest ranking person in the Dynasty after the Bright Queen. Someone will go looking for him when he misses a summons or a meeting. We could stay silent and not say anything, sure and we probably would be in the clear. Essek, however, would be probably have already been branded a traitor and us along with him when we returned. By notifying the Bright Queen right away we look less guilty.” She paused to take a breath, lungs heaving as if she had been running for miles, sending pale smoke like plumes into the night from the cold. “We’ll look like a bunch of fuck-ups but a loyal bunch of fuck-ups. By reporting to her more or less immediately what happened, we appear honest and like we don’t have anything to hide.”

Watching their faces as they processed what she said, Beau could already tell that Fjord reluctantly agreed with her. Jester was rubbing the Traveler’s symbol a little more vigorously. Nott seemed to be the only one who still looked unconvinced; her scraggly talon-like nails making clicking noises against the metal of the flask. Shit, she knew Nott could be stubborn at the best of times. How could she convince her that this was the best way to get Caleb back without completely fucking up the good thing they had going in Xorhas. They had already made enemies of far too many powerful people and groups they really couldn’t afford to make enemies of the Bright Queen and the Krynn Dynasty as well.

“Besides I don’t know about any of you but I didn’t get a good look at what Essek was doing when the ring activated. Jester you were the only one to actually see him at the podium. None of us have Caleb’s memory and for me at least the ruin looked like it was almost underwater the atmospheric distortion was so bad. I couldn’t tell you what what symbols if any on that ring lit up.” God’s this situation was so fucked up, they had no good options here and going off half cocked would only get them into more trouble. “If this ruin is as old as Deuces says it might be then given the nature of the whole consecution thing someone might know something about this thing.” Thankfully that last explanation seemed to mollify the Goblin enough that she was willing to go along with Beau’s plan.

“Fine, but if anything happens to my boy, I’m destroying your knee caps.” It was a grudging and unhappy agreement but Beau couldn’t blame Nott. Hell all of them would give their right hand to get Caleb back. She was starting to shiver as the wind began to pick up bringing with it the eerie howls from a pack of some sort of creature in the distance. Sleeves were bullshit but she should probably invest in some cold weather gear in case they ever ended up in another situation like this.

“Noted.” She replied to Nott, “Deuces can you light up your staff? Jester before you send the messages, can you sketch the Ring and the pedestal with as much detail and as accurately as possible. I have a feeling that we’re going to need it.”

Caduceus obligingly cast light on the amethyst crystal topping his staff, bathing the snow in bright light. That was most likely going to attract whatever was howling in the distance but hopefully not until they had gotten what they needed from the ruins. She watched as Jester rummaged around in the haversack to get her sketchbook and a stick of graphite.

“Okay let’s do this before the light attracts whatever is howling out there.” Fjord nodded jerkily and they all followed Nott’s path in the snow towards the pedestal, platform, and stone ring. Approaching the pedestal first thing Beau noticed was that it was a rounded oval shape with an inclined face made of some kind of metal she didn’t recognize. Walking around to get a good look at the flat the of face she was immediately struck with a sense of deja-vu. The two concentric rings of runes surrounding a large blue cabochon of some sort of blue gemstone a little larger than her hand; it reminded her of a larger more complicated version of the room transfer mechanism buttons in the Happy Fun Ball. A chill that had nothing to do with the frigid temperature raised the hair on the back of her neck. It seemed that Caduceus was right, this ruin was at least as old as the Age of Arcanum if not older. She counted nineteen different runes making up each ring around the gem, thirty-eight in total.

“Don’t touch the runes or that gem, we don’t want another repeat of the Happy Fun Ball.”

*********

Watching as Beau and Jester examined and sketched the ring and pedestal, Fjord couldn’t help but feel guilty. He may not have been the one to activate the ruins, but he had led them here. He had gone from a powerless liability, after severing his pact with Uk’otoa and simultaneously throwing away one of the last links to Molly they had; to putting his faith in the Wildmother and subsequently luring his friends in a situation that lost them another friend and putting them in a dangerous position with the Dynasty. Snow crunched beside him as Caduceus came over to stand to his right, having loaned his staff to Beau to illuminate the platform so Jester could sketch all the details.

“We were meant to find this gate, you weren’t wrong for trusting in the Wildmother. You know that right?” Caduceus’s deep voice rumbled cutting across the silence and the cold. Fjord couldn’t help but huff cynically before responding, “How do you figure. We might end up losing our lives, at the very least our freedom, over this mess. And sure it’s not like I’ve got anyone outside of you guys who will miss me if the worst happens. But what about the rest of you? Nott just got her family back. Jester has her mom. Beau has a younger brother that I think she would at least want to meet even if she won’t admit it. And what about you? You still have to find out what happened to your family and save your home. If you all don’t make it back to them, it would be my fault.”

The Firbolg made a slight humming sigh, as if he was chewing over his words before speaking, “It would have been found eventually and probably by people we wouldn’t want to find it. I can think of a lot of bad things that could happen if say Obann had found this ruin and activated the gate. Perhaps we needed to find this now before something or someone worse finds it or comes through it.”

Lead cannon balls seemed to settle in Fjord’s gut as he thought about the kind of damage Obann or similar ilk could do with a pre-Age of Arcanum gate that opened to who knows where. As much as he hated to say it, it was looking more and more like Beau’s plan of notifying the Bright Queen was the best possible option. He just wished that they knew more about how it worked so that they could retrieve Caleb and Essek first. If they could just figure out how to do that the chances of all of them getting out of this situation alive would be much higher. He felt so useless just standing here watching the girls examine the ruins, the least he could do is try and help them survive the night. He had never really thought about how heavily they all relied on Caleb and his magic during their travels that it was unsettling to realize how very unprepared they were to spend the night in the frozen wastes.

“Do we have anything that we can burn for warmth?” He asked Caduceus. Looking around he couldn’t see anything even the illumination from the staff didn’t reveal any foliage or remains of foliage that they could burn.

“Not that I’ve seen, but I don’t have great night vision. However, the wind is going to be the thing that kills us the fastest. If we can find some way to block that…” The Firbolg trailed off looking troubled. It occured to Fjord that even though the Savilier Wood and Blooming Grove had been fairly far north, the Blooming Grove itself had been blooming and warm out of season at odds with the creeping winter that had been setting in that fateful trip towards Shady Creek Run. So while the cleric had generally been an asset in most situations where it came to surviving off the land, he might have no clue how to survive the night without shelter in freezing temperatures. A thought occurred to Fjord, Nott and Caleb had traveled together the longest, and memory of just how rough the two of them had looked the first time they all met in Trostenwald. They must have slept rough several times, possibly in snowy conditions.

“Nott?” Calling out to the Goblin who hadn’t stopped drinking from her flask for the last several minutes after wandering back from the platform. At his call of her name she capped the flask again with suspicious look.

“Yeah?” It took a lot not to flinch at the blame filled gaze she trained on him. Steeling himself for the question he was about to ask, unsure of what sort of response he would get from her. A deep breath, then another, she had every right to be angry with him.

“When you and Caleb were traveling together did you ever have to survive without shelter in the snow?” As much as he hated to admit, he was hoping they had. She was smaller than the rest of them and would probably succumb to the cold the fastest. At least that was how it worked on the ocean in cold seas. They had always prioritized any Gnomish, Halfling, or Dwarven crew members first if they were swept overboard in cold water.

“Yeah, we were pretty far north when we broke out of prison and it was late autumn. Caleb wouldn’t let us sleep under trees for risk of being buried under heavy snowfall and getting trapped. However, he did say that if we dug a shelter out of a hard packed snowbank and huddled together we might conserve enough heat to survive the night.” She took another pull from her flask before continuing, “Though there was usually enough sticks and branches around that we at least had a fire. Fire Bolt and Burning Hands don’t care how damp the wood is so we could always get it to burn. Though if he had to resort to burning hands he always got quiet and his sleep was plagued by nightmares.” Nott’s voice had mellowed from it’s typical pitchy shriek to a harsh croaking as she remembered those early days when it was just her boy and herself.

Okay, digging a shelter out of a compacted snowbank sounded easy enough though without Caleb’s cat’s paw the process would most likely leave them wet with snow melt, but it would at least stop the wind. A look around their surroundings revealed a relatively flat snow plain. They were going to have to pile and pack the snow up into a bank or semi circular walls. Without a shovel that would be very time consuming and risky. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

“Caduceus, do you think that Control Water would work on snow? I mean it is frozen water after all,” he asked expecting an automatic denial.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never tried it before. Hmmm, that might work.” Fjord watched as the cleric attempted to use Control Water to move the snow to no avail. Though that did spawn the idea of using Create Water to build up a half dome of ice and packing the snow around it for extra insulation. For the first time it occurred to him that it might just be a good time to pray. Faith had never come easily to him and the first time Fjord had actively put his faith in a power outside of himself they had ended up in this situation; but, he had seen faith carry Jester and Caduceus through everything they had been through. Maybe it was time to put a little trust in the Wildmother that everything would work out and that they would get Caleb and Essek back. For a brief second Fjord could have sworn that a warm wind that smelled of sea salt and spices, the kind that were heavily traded along the Menagerie Coast, wrapped itself around him.

It made him feel a little better that he was at least able to contribute to their survival, even if he had been the one to lead them here. They were approximately halfway through packing the snow around the half dome of ice, when Jester and Beau returned.

*********

_At least we have shelter for the night. That’s one worry out of the way,_ Beau thought as she and Jester approached the remaining members of the Nein. The half dome windbreak that they had constructed was already easing some of the bone numbing chill that was beginning to set in. _All right sleeves aren’t bullshit after all,_ at least not when they were missing their wizard and his affinity for fire spells. As soon as they crammed in with Fjord, Caduceus, and Nott she spoke.

“So we have to figure out what we’re going to say to Dairon and the Bright Queen. We’ll only have twenty-five words.” That received nods of agreement from Fjord and Caduceus; however, Nott gave her another suspicious glare.

“Why aren’t we activating the runes and then notifying them after we’ve gone to find them?” It was a good question but it was also a fucking stupid idea. One she thought she had explained well enough already but now she had more reasons why it was a bad idea.

“Because we have no idea how long it would take us to get them back. Besides as I said before Essek isn’t going to thank us if we get him executed or imprisoned for suspected treason just because we lost him through a pre-Age of Arcanum gate. Also I have a feeling that gate is like the Happy Fun Ball, it doesn’t lead to just one place. There are thirty-eight runes on that platform and each of them correspond to a matching rune on the ring. Without the exact sequence of runes that Essek apparently triggered we could end up fucking anywhere. We’re already missing two of our friends and an ally (maybe friend) I’m not eager to repeat Glory Run Road.” Beau took a breath letting her words sink in and also surreptitiously swallow the lump that had formed in her throat at the mention of the choices they made that led to Molly’s death. Though from the flinches they all gave, save for Caduceus, she had made her point. “We’re not going in blind this time, I refuse to let us charge in recklessly and potentially lose more anymore of us. I fucking learned my lesson seven months ago. We’ll just have to trust that Caleb and Essek are resourceful enough to stay alive and stay safe wherever they are right now.”

Caduceus had pulled out the enchanted teapot and was currently brewing tea in an attempt to help keep their core temperature high enough to survive the night. Nobody spoke as they huddled together putting their bedrolls down within the hollow of the windbreak that they had created. She knew that they would have to have Jester message Dairon and the Bright Queen sooner or later, but she wasn’t looking forward to it. Finally after stalling another several minutes, long enough that the tea had finished steeping and Caduceus had pressed a blessedly hot cup into her hands, she knew that they couldn’t afford to put off having Jester cast Sending any longer.

“Hey, Jes. You still good to cast Sending?” Jester looked up from her own cup of tea at Beau’s question. Her horn charms and chains chimed as she nodded with far less enthusiasm than normal.

“What do you want me to say and who should I contact first?” she said. _Okay, here goes everything._

“Contact Dairon first and tell them ‘Beau says that shit went down. Be prepared to lay low or bug out fast.” she said, mentally tallying up the number of words that message had and coming up with ten under the limit. Knowing Jester she would find a way to fill those last ten words probably with something ridiculous, but the gist of would be communicated. Jester nodded again gripping her holy symbol, after putting her empty tea cup on the ground in front of her, and took a deep breath looking over at Fjord who had both hands raised.

“Hi, it’s Jester. Beau says that shit went down. Be prepared to lay low or bug out fast. Stay safe Beau would miss you, bye.” Beau was impressed and worried as she watched Fjord count down the twenty-five words down on his hands. It wasn’t like Jester to not to add in invasive and/or embarrassing questions if she had words left over. The fact that she used the extra seven words to tell Dairon to be safe rather than ask them if they were pooping was not a good sign for the Tiefling’s mental health. Jester paused, her eyes unfocusing as Dairon apparently responded.

“Dairon says ‘understood.’ They didn’t say anything else.” Jester’s voice was troubled, likely because of Dairon’s lack of sentiment in their return message. Truth be told even though Beau knew it was stupid, it hurt her a little bit too. She would never admit that to anyone even under pain of death. Now for the one that would probably seal their fate.

“Now for the Bright Queen, tell her ‘We found a magical ruin similar to the beacons. We asked Essek to look at it. Now Essek and Caleb are missing.” She let out a shakey breath, she hoped to the fucking gods this didn’t backfire on them. Jester swallowed and took a fortifying breath before fixing her eyes on Fjord’s hands again.

“Hi it’s Jester, we found a magical ruin similar to the beacons. We asked Essek to look at it. Now Essek and Caleb are missing.” Hands worried at the Traveler’s symbol as she waited for a response if any. Beau watched as Jester’s eyes widened and her fingers stilled dropping her holy symbol to hang from her wrist.

“Guys, she really didn’t sound happy. She said ‘I see, stay where you are.’ That doesn’t good.” There was a slightly uneasy edge to her voice. _Fuck, that is not a promising sign, but slightly better than expected._ There was also the possibility that the Bright Queen would possibly send someone to investigate the ruins but it was also equally likely that she was sending someone to collect them.

“You should drink that before it goes cold.” Caduceus’s voice broke her out of her thoughts. He was right the tea cup had cooled considerably and she gulped down the lukewarm tea. At this point it did little to warm her. Gentle long fingered and lightly furred hands reached over and plucked the empty cup out of her hands, then pressed the refilled cup back into her grip.

“There’s nothing we can do about it now. All we can do is wait and try to get some rest. I have faith that this will work out. We’ll get them back.” Caduceus said. Nodding as she sipped the very hot tea, this time thankfully warming her a bit as it was meant to, Beau knew that Caduceus was right. They needed to rest and try to get enough sleep that they were refreshed and ready to take a second look at the ruin. Also so that they were prepared for whatever might be coming their way from the Dynasty.

“Caddy’s right we need to try and get some rest. We don’t know what’s going to happen but we can at least try to face it as rested as possible. Who’s taking first watch?” Honestly Beau would prefer to take the first watch, but she figured that she should at least give the others a chance given the fact that she was pretty sure that they were in the same boat she was; not sure that she would be able to sleep at all.

“I’ll take it.” Jester piped up. Dammit, that would leave one of their cleric’s short on rest; but, with Jester acting so subdued and upset she didn’t have the heart to say no to her.

“Okay, I’ll take last watch then. Who’s taking mid watch?” Nott and Fjord looked at each other. It would be between the two of them. Without a fire Caduceus couldn’t see and the light cantrip, which he had extinguished, might as well be a fucking “come here, eat me” beacon. Finally Fjord spoke up, “I will.”

Nodding Beau settled down into her bedroll, watching all but Jester do the same. She closed her eyes she began the meditative breathing that the Cobalt Soul had taught her in order to clear her mind enough to slip off to sleep.

*********

_Why aren’t you answering? Is Beau right and you’re protecting Caleb and Essek? I wish that you’d give me a sign._ Jester thought and prayed to the Traveler as she threaded the chain of her holy symbol through her fingers. She was desperately trying not to remember the last time the Traveler had gone silent on her. The situations were far too similar, at least with everyone asleep she could rebuild her facade of cheer and optimism. She didn’t want her friends to worry about her too much, she needed to ensure that they were happy or as happy as they could be with both Yasha and Caleb gone. Briefly she considered casting Sending again to tell her mom that she loved her as Catha and Ruidus rose above the horizon; but, they would run out of words and she wouldn’t be able to cast it again today. Which would only make her mom worry. Instead she stared at the sky.

“Please be okay Cayleb, Essek. Watch over them Traveler.” She wondered if this was how the others had felt when they had woken up to find her, Fjord, and Yasha gone. If so she thinks she understood how desperate they had felt. It was approximately two hours into her watch that she heard an unfamiliar feminine voice coldly say in her mind, “Where are you? Describe the location.”

Biting her lip Jester debated whether or not to answer, but Beau’s earlier warnings rang in her head. It would be suspicious if she didn’t answer. Taking a breath she spoke, “Three days due south of Mythburrow in the ice fields, by a stone ring on a platform with a pedestal.”

The voice responded again with another Sending spell, “Understood, stay put. Do Not respond.”

That didn’t sound good at all. She hated to wake the others up but they would probably forgive her for it. Jester allowed herself a few seconds to try and achieve her usual excitability and whisper shouted just loudly enough to wake the others, “Guys wake up someone’s coming!”

That got everyone’s attention grabbing groggily for weapons and struggling to sit up in their bedrolls.

“Hmm…Jester where?” Fjord’s tired response drowned out Beau’s grumbling snarl.

“A woman just contacted me through Sending asking me to describe where we are.” She let her enthusiasm trail off slightly. Jester could see Beau’s expression go from groggy to wide awake in seconds as she processed her words.

“You didn’t tell them right?!” Nott screeched panickedly.

“I did, I remembered what Beau said about appearing guilty even though we’re not. So I told her, was I wrong?” She wasn’t sure anymore. Nothing felt like the right action to take, and it felt like she was letting her friends down.

“No, Jes. You did good, we knew this might happen. Who knows we might get lucky and the Bright Queen might be sending a researcher or an archivist or something.” Jester could hear the doubt in Beau’s voice that they would be so lucky. Before anyone could respond the sound of a large number of feet landing in the snow cut off any further discussion.

Looking towards the opening of their snow shelter she saw a tall Drow woman with her white hair tied into a high tail, wearing a fur trimmed bustled frock coat and four more Drow wearing the armor of the Echo Knights, as well as four solid shadows that appeared to be wearing the same armor.

_Oh, that doesn’t look like they are here to help us._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we will pick back up with Molly and co. to find out just what Caleb and Essek figured out and also what the fall out of Mollymauk's Charm Person will be.


	16. Assembling Our Philosophies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam voices suspicions, Daniel chases herring, our pint-sized wizards geek out over spell theory, and Mollymauk attempts to assault his Patron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swans in nearly six months late to post this chapter on my birthday. I apologize for the lateness of this chapter the current world events conspired to make it extremely difficult to write this fic, add in that episode 99 made me very upset at one of the characters to the point where I was having trouble writing their character positively...I ended up taking a break to work out those feelings through my Hey Brother series of fics. I cannot promise when the next chapter for this fic will be finished but I have not abandoned this fic it is still my primary baby.

_I don’t like this_ , Sam thought as they all fell in around Mollymauk and the children, following Jack’s lead. It wasn’t like him to change his mind like that especially not so abruptly. Exchanging similarly troubled glances with Teal’c and Daniel, she felt marginally better that they all seemed to be on the same page, as they made their way back towards the elevator. If Mollymauk was, as unbelievable as it may sound, capable of mind control or telepathic suggestion than they had bigger issues than they previously believed. At this point all they could do was keep an eye on the situation and look for a way to break it.

Tense silence followed them as Jack led them back towards the room their guests were currently calling their own. So far Mollymauk hadn’t said anything else though she didn’t miss the tight grip the man had on Caleb’s small hand nor the the linen sleeve twisted with tension on the arm supporting Essek’s weight. He definitely wasn’t as at ease as he was trying to project. Thinking back there was a high likelihood that he had pulled the same trick with Janet as well. Sam had thought that it was simply Janet deciding to pick her battles and avoid another situation like the previous night, now she wasn’t so sure. If that was the case, and every scientific bone in her body wanted to scream that it wasn’t possible, wasn’t logical, then the empirical evidence would suggest that the man was only ( _that you know of,_ a traitorous thought voiced) using the ability in defense of the children, Caleb in particular. Which was lending credence to a theory that had been building since Daniel’s deduction about the children’s social status earlier, that the man was a hired guard for one or both children. This whole situation was turning into a Gordian knot of epic proportions and she feared what new tangle was about to make itself known.

“We’re going to need to handle this situation very carefully,” Daniel’s murmur was barely audible as he drifted closer to her under the pretense of scanning the hallway with the TER. _No kidding,_ she thought as she glanced at the rigid line of Jack’s back. There was no telling how he was going to react to when whatever caused him to change his mind wore off or broke. Assuming that is that he hadn’t just acted on some unspoken cue that the rest of them hadn’t picked up on.

“No kidding, what did you get out of that exchange earlier?” She kept her voice low just on the shy side of audible, quiet enough that Daniel and Teal’c with his enhanced senses, could hear but not Mollymauk, the children, or Jack. At least she thought it had been quiet enough, if she hadn’t been sneaking a glance at the quartet ahead of her she wouldn’t have noticed it. Essek’s head turned just enough that she was able to catch the glint of the sunglasses’ lenses from within the confines of the sweatshirt’s hood. It could be just a coincidence, a child’s attempt at getting more comfortable but the fact that it happened at the exact moment she and Daniel started talking was suspicious.

_How much are you willing to lay money on enhanced night vision also translates to enhanced other senses as well?_ She asked herself silently taking in the fact that it appeared that Caleb, Jack, and Mollymauk hadn’t picked up on her and Daniel’s quiet exchange. She was going to have to go through the security footage from last night again just to be sure. 

*********

Following Sam’s gaze towards the child seemingly eyeing them from under the darkness of the sweatshirt hood Daniel considered his next words very carefully.

“Which one? The exchange between Jack and Mollymauk or the deliberate distraction the kids staged afterwards?” He muttered out of the corner of his mouth catching the way her eyes widened in realization.

“You think…they knew and deliberately distracted us from whatever just happened?” Keeping his peripheral vision on the colorfully clad back and subsequently the child observing them from the man’s shoulder.

“We’ll discuss this later, after they’re in their room and away from Jack for the time being.” Sam’s eyes hardened with displeasure at the suggestion but refrained from speaking again. Without the stress, grief, desperation, and exhaustion from the night before clouding his mind Daniel finally got a good look at some of the embroidery adorning the back of the horned man’s coat. The phases of the moon picked their way down his spine in silver thread to just above where it split into tails to accommodate the man’s own tail. The full moon was position just right so that it acted as the pupil for the large red eye in the center of the coat’s back nestled within a golden triangle with light rays that too up most the coat’s back. A clear symbol of the Eye of Providence or as it was more commonly known as the all seeing eye. The hood of coat shifted a bit as Essek re-positioned himself slightly to face forward and lean his head against the side of Mollymauk’s neck; revealing a figure embroidered embroidered in white and gold threads. A primitive female figure, similar to many clay and stone goddess figurines recovered from archaeological digs across the world, with a radiant halo and what appeared to be wings for arms stood in stark relief on the back of the man’s left shoulder.

A thrill of excitement ran through him, these symbols lent credence to the theory that had been taking form since he had seen the writing in the second of the two books and realized the etymology of their owner’s name. These individual’s culture had had at least some exposure to the Abrahamic faiths before being translocated elsewhere. Though he would have to check his references to when the Eye of Providence first appeared in the format of an illuminated eye within a pyramid. It may give him some idea of when Caleb’s people had been removed from Earth.

Chewing that note over Daniel tried to get another good look at some of the other symbols on the coat. Silently drifting to the side to walk abreast of Mollymauk he caught sight of floral motifs, sun motifs, an anvil and flame symbol, spirals, more eyes (not quite the Eye of Providence though and not the Wadjet either), what he thought might be alchemical symbols, and above all an overarching moon motif. In addition to the phases running down his spine they were also embroidered on a green ribbon that had been appliqued on a slant towards the hem of both front panels, a large crescent moon with a smiling face also appeared gazing up an ornate sun on both front panels as well.

_Hmm…there must be something culturally significant about the moon to their culture. I don’t remember anything about the moon being significant in any of the Abrahamic faiths; but, I could be wrong given that it’s not my specialty. I wonder if Teal’c found anything out about their culture that we might be able to use to figure out if we’re heading in the right direction_. The thought buried itself as they all stepped into the elevator.

*********

_We’re almost to the room,_ Molly thought as the red numbers of the clockwork carriage started counting upwards towards the floor where their temporary lodging was. He could feel his heart pounding as he prayed that the Charm Person didn’t fail or end unexpectedly. This place with its lack of windows and many floors of indentical maze-like halls wasn’t helping him stay calm. Only the fact that Caleb and Essek were vulnerable was keeping the panic of not being able to see the sky or feel fresh air at bay. He could feel Caleb’s fingers fidgeting in his hand itching for to write down whatever idea had come to him and Essek in the mess hall. It couldn’t hurt to ask for a pen, ink, and paper for his wizards right now, especially since O’Neill was charmed. Biding his time until the carriage’s doors opened and they were halfway down the hall to the room Mollymauk casually (well as casually as he could when his heart was pounding in his chest and the taste dirt was filling his mouth) asked, “I don’t suppose that I could get some ink, paper, and couple of pens or quills to entertain these two while you talk to your General, could I?”

Somehow he had managed to keep his voice sounding light and unconcerned and he allowed himself to breathe a silent sigh of relief as O’Neill turned to address the question without a trace of the suspicious hostility that had been a marked trait of all their previous interactions. Though it didn’t miss his notice that the other three were looking at him suspiciously. _Damn, I should have gone for Enthrall and tried to catch them all but that would have been too risky._

“There’s a pad of paper on the desk in your room and there should be a pen next to it, but I know kids don’t always like to share.” O’Neill said, plucking a black cylindrical object from the front pocket of his jacket holding it out to him though Essek was the one who reached out and took it, staring at it curiously turning it over in his hands as he examined it.

“You mentioned pens and paper being provided but nothing about ink?” Pens would do much good without ink.

“The ink is stored within the body of the pens, all you have to do it start writing or drawing. Though you may have to scribble a bit to get it flowing if it’s been sitting for awhile,” exchanging a curious look Caleb whose expression showed guarded interest and shrugged. It seemed his pint sized wizards were willing to take that statement at face value then. Never the less he was very glad when they arrived at the door to the room and the white card was once again inserted into the slit above the door handle as a green light came on with a clicking sound. Pushing the door open he could see that the private privy and sluice stall room was still illuminated though the running water from the tap had been turned off. Which meant that these people had probably gone through what belongings they had been allowed to keep with them. That would be something that they would need to be aware of and make sure that they didn’t leave anything incriminating lying around such as Caleb’s spell components. At least everything important to him was hidden away in the pockets cleverly hidden in the lining of his coat. He could see a large pad of something white on the desk and another one of those capped cylinders. Waiting until he heard Essek’s quiet voice in his ear confirming that they’d left or were at least out of earshot did he finally let them go.

As predicted both wizards raced towards the desk Caleb grabbing the other pen. It took them a bit to figure out how to make them work before they started filling the paper with its pale blue lines up with Arcane scrawls and excited notes in their respective languages. Settling on the bed to wait until they worked out their academic excitement out, Mollymauk listened to the two of them chattering quietly to themselves, occasionally punctuated with a sharp exclamation of understanding or clarification. He only hoped that they would explain it to him in a way that he could understand when they finished.

*********

Essek knew that Caleb that figured something out, in truth he had only hoped to confirm his suspicion that the symbol on these people’s uniforms was an arcane symbol; but, it seemed as if it had jogged something in his student’s mind. Truthfully it was almost frightening how Caleb’s mind seemed to put together information and see connections that others could not when it came to magic. Even now he still couldn’t see the shape of what was going on in his student’s mind. Watching as Caleb’s hand quickly and precise drafted out and labeled what appeared to be several teleportation circles. _Tidepeak Tower (Nicodranus), Lucid Bastion (Rosohna),_ and _Vellum Steeple_ _(Uthodurn)_. All different though some had symbols in common the configurations were different. Some adding different arcane equations, some exchanging symbols and ley line configurations. A small inkling of what was going through the other wizard’s mind began to form, though he still wasn’t quite sure where Caleb was going with all this. That was until he started drafting out another larger circle with nine anchoring glyphs instead of six.

The glyph spaces were left blank as were most of the spell equations that would be needed to accommodate and offset the addition of the three additional anchor points. But he could see exactly what Caleb was intending. _That’s…Brilliant…the extra anchor points provide stability but the energy expenditure would overload the circle before…_ Immediately Essek started scribbling notes on the edges of the paper forgetting in his excitement to write in common as his mind outpaced his hand and it fell into his first language.

“That’s brilliant but how would you counteract the energy expenditure burning out the circle?” He murmured as Caleb removed the small leather pouch that he had hidden in the front pocket of his hooded tunic. The one that the other wizard had dumped the entire contents of the salt container into while the Tiefling distracted their escort. _Ah, at least I don’t have to worry about a language barrier with our notes._

Caleb didn’t answer verbally but instead drew a perfect if rough replica of the ruin that had gotten them into this mess complete with the thirty-six glyphs that had been inscribed along the entire inner ring. _Wait, the ring spun nine times and stopped on a different glyph each time…surely he’s not suggesting that…._ Essek didn’t finish the thought as Caleb began drawing lines connecting certain glyphs with arrows indicating the direction the inner ring had spun and where on the ring the glyph had stopped. _That’s…_ the thought once again trailed off as what was clearly a teleportation circle took shape with nine anchor points.

“A teleportation circle that’s capable of teleporting between planes,” Essek could feel his eyes widening and excitement thrumming through his veins chasing away the the fog of exhaustion that had been encroaching from his inability to trance the night before. _It’s as I thought the extra anchor points provide the stability, though it seems to be borrowing elements of a Gate spell as well with it’s vertical make up but I still don’t understand how they compensated for the energy expenditure._ Another thought occured to him and suddenly he knew why Caleb had been so excited at the sight of the glyph on these people’s uniforms. It must have some significance to this interplanar teleportation circle. When he had drawn Caleb’s attention to the glyph he had suspected that it would be important but he hadn’t suspected that it would be as valuable a discovery as this.

“Ja, aber there’s more,” Caleb’s words a pidgin mix of Zemnian and common. He drew out another ring this time with thirty-nine symbols completely different than the ones that had been on the ring in the ruins. That’s when he noticed the open triangle with a circle above it that had caught his eye on the uniform.

“You believe that it’s the symbol for this plane?” It was the only logical answer and if that was the case then they could possibly recreate this when they returned to Rosohna. Caleb nodded quickly.

“Ja, das extra anchor points must provide the additional spacial und directional calculations to make the connection between to the two planes stable. Way points if you will.” That made sense but that still didn’t solve the fact that the circle would burn itself out unless it was drawing on the Gate spell’s ability to find a target even if they were on another plane of existence which due to the very nature of seeking out an individual instead of trying translocate an individual to a specific place undercut the energy costs of the spell greatly.

“The energy expenditure is still too high, even if we add elements of the Gate spell into it, it’s still too broad a focus the shear amount of distance and even with adding elements of theoretical Chronurgy into the equations it’s still not enough to offset it.”

“Aber a solid state circle of unrefined Whitestone ore would prevent the circle from burning out as it wouldn’t be consumed the way a chalked circle would.” The excited light in the other wizard’s eyes was infectious. All they would need to figure out was the correct combination of calculations to shape the ley lines and as long as the had a matching circle on the plane they were trying to reach…

“That must be where the elements of the Gate spell come in, by rotating the teleportation circle vertical and anchoring it within a solid state ring of a very dense magically resonant ore…but why the unrefined ore? Why not use the refined Residuum? It resonates and amplifies magic much more efficiently…” Essek’s voice trailed off as he thought it over.

“It would overload und the ring would shatter causing an unimaginable explosion.” The other wizard was grinning wide and unrestrained for the first time since Essek had met him and in his own excited and exhausted state he couldn’t help the smile that mirrored it from forming on his own face. _Propriety be damned,_ he thought to himself. This push and pull of unspoken understanding of magic was everything that he had hoped for and fallen short of since he was granted the opportunity to study Dunamancy and found it as easy as breathing and three times as fascinating.

“...Essek, Essek?” Caleb’s voice calling his name caught his attention breaking him out of his joy.

“Ah, yes?” There was a worried tone to the other wizard’s voice and he surmised that he must have been trying to catch his attention for a good bit to provoke that tone.

“Mein freund? Did you get enough rest? You’re starting to sway a bit.” Oh, Caleb was right, now that the excitement from their discovery was starting to fade he could feel the throb of a headache starting to pick up behind his eyes and an answering heartbeat of pain pulsing in his lower back just above his hips.

“Hey darling, what’s this about you not resting?” Mollymauk’s voice made him jump, he had forgotten that the Tiefling was in the room with them. It went against every honed instinct he had to admit to such a weakness; but, his trust in Caleb and the others of the Mighty Nein had not been misplaced yet. Mollymauk was Caleb’s, was one of the Mighty Nein’s heart and soul, that much he could see. Ignoring the cold voice that sounded like his Den Mother and Umavi telling him that to trust others outside of Den Thelyss was foolish he said, “There is too much noise, I cannot reach the state of mind I need to slip into my trance.”

“That won’t do,” glancing at the Tiefling clearly visible to him in the relative dimness of the room backlit slightly by the light spilling from the cracked door of the washroom, “Would focusing on only one sound help? If you were to lean against my chest while I cover you with my coat and use my other hand to further muffle any other sounds, would that work?”

Ordinarily he would bristle at the idea of being cradled like a child; but, he was exhausted and in pain and it had been a very long time since he had been offered such innocuous contact without strings attached.

*********

Mollymauk sighed in relief when the pint sized Drow slipped down from his perch next to Caleb and joined him on the bed. There was a bit of an awkward moment as the warred with himself about whether or not curl up in Molly’s lap or lean against his side before finally settling himself on his lap leaning against Molly’s chest right ear pressed firmly over his heart. Drawing the coat he had doffed upon sitting on the bed on the bed to watch his wizards excitedly chatter to themselves over their discovery to cover the small figure and resting his hand over the fabric covered lump of Essek’s head feeling for a delicately pointed ear letting it rest there when he found it.

The dip in the mattress let him know that Caleb joined them right before a warm form pressed itself into his left side face burrowed into the fabric of his shirt. A quiet snap let him know what his other wizard had planned. After what felt like an eternity but was actually only a few minutes he felt Essek’s breathing ease into a rhythmic catch and hold pattern then slowed into steady deep breathes. Molly felt his own eyes growing heavy and easing shut.

The smell of incense caused him to open his eyes panic beginning to set in at the absence of the twin weights of Caleb and Essek before he realized that he was in the cushion floored, tapestry walled circus tent that was his soulscape.

“Peace, pet. They’re fine. I’m just taking advantage of this moment of quiet to teach you more tricks to add to your arsenal,” Artagan’s voice chuckled by his ear. Still annoyed at the events of earlier Molly twisted his torso intending to punch the Archfey in the face. Only for him to spin out of the way with a lilting laugh.

“Now, now pet that wasn’t very nice,” the pleased smile that crossed the fey’s face belied the mocking tone of voice even as he wagged an admonishing finger in Molly’s direction.

“Normally I would teach you something else, a spell more my style, but part of the deal I made to be able to bring you back was that I teach you a spell that echoed their power. So alas here we are.” The Archfey’s comically exaggerated expression drew a snort from Molly at its absurdity.

“Oh and what pray tell are you going to teach me?” irritation overriding his caution of the previous night. Artagan’s wide grin just grew even wider and his green eyes took on a distinctly predatory gleam. Instead of answering, however, his patron made a flourishing gesture and another training dummy appeared next to Mollymauk. With a flick of his hand a tether of lightning lashed out to whip around the dummy and pulled it towards the fey. The sword with its twilight sky colored blade shimmering into existence in his other hand to skewer the dummy once it was pulled into range.

“Of course if this were a living foe the Lightning Lure would do more than just pull them to you, but alas this wood is not conductive. Now my darling it is your turn. Feel the little spark that lives in all living things, draw it out to your fingertips, in your case it does not matter which hand.” His patron’s tone changed from flippant to almost hypnotic and Molly could feel himself being lulled into doing what he asked almost without realizing it.

A spark of static rushing along his nerves towards his fingertips growing and building until blue-white sparks danced along his arm gathering in his palm. Almost instinctively he threw his hand out to cast the sparks away and a bolt of lightning left his hand to wrap around the dummy. The leash of electricity tightened and Molly could feel more sparks racing down his arm to join the tether. Yanking his arm back he felt a slight resistance before the dummy came flying back towards him. It was only instinct that saved him from getting knocked back into the pillow and cushions that littered the circus tent that was his soul space, pact blade shimmering into existence in his offhand to neatly stab the dummy its momentum driving the blade deep into the wood.

“Oh bravo pet! You really do pick up things so refreshingly quickly. Let’s try a few more times to make sure that it truly becomes instinct shall we?” The gleeful clapping and sly words sent a warmth through Molly’s chest that was partially pride and mostly annoyance.

“Do you have to be such an asshole?” he growled not caring if he offended his patron the events of this day had already set him on edge to the point where he might have fucked up by tipping his hand too early with exercising his Devil’s Tongue on O’Neill, he didn’t have the patience to deal with a capricious Archfey’s sense of humor. He honestly just wanted to see the sky and feel the wind on his face to drive away the crumbling sensation of dirt in his mouth.

“Oh pet, I apologize, this was too much too soon wasn’t it?” A long fingered hand settled itself on his curls drawing Molly into a warm embrace of green and blue robes that smelled of caramel and apples. He hand realized that he had started shaking until the hand in his hair started stroking through it and down his back.

“I suppose that I was so focused on making sure that you weren’t left defenseless in the face of the coming entertainment that I took my excitement out on you. We’ll return to this spell later tonight after you’ve rested and aren’t riding the anxiety of this morning’s mayhem. Thank your wizards for me, would you? They gave me the piece I needed to find a way to get you back to your friends.” Molly just buried himself further into the comforting embrace that strove to beat back the hollow pit of fear that had been building in his stomach the longer he found himself in this windowless place.

“Rest pet, I’ll be watching over all of you, rest for now.” The words eased him back down into a dreamless rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be Caleb's point of view and possibly Jack's point of view. We will see.


	17. Walk by Invisible and Never Make a Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Caleb goes scouting using Frumpkin and Jack's day goes from bad to worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story and those who leave me wonderful comments on it. It really does mean the world to me especially since everything that is going on in the real world has conspired to make it difficult for me to write for this fic. Any way I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sound, smell, and the feeling of static like lightning underneath his (Frumpkin’s) paws overwhelmed him for a brief moment as his mind adjusted to the enhanced senses of the fey cat. A breath, two, and Caleb’s mind quietened; he could still feel the oppressive press of memories but distant, muted. It was almost time for Essek to renew the enchantment shielding him from them. Mentally wincing at that thought he felt the questioning trill of not quite words Frumpkin sent towards him.

_Nothing schatz, just worrying over how much of a debt I am accruing that spell component is not cheap._ The thought was directed back at Frumpkin with an image of the bag of glittering iridescent moonstone powder. Focusing their senses out they risked peaking over the edge of the pipes and grates holding strange smooth ropes (vines?) or cables of some sort in green, blue, and a particular shade of grey that Caleb had learned to associate with the color red from Frumpkin’s perspective. No guards outside the door to the room but halfway down the hallway there was an armed soldier guarding the clockwork carriage doors as there had been the previous night and this morning as well. It would make exploring more difficult but there was a reason why people were at times convinced that cats could walk through walls or teleport and given that Frumpkin was a fey being currently shaped like a cat that belief was even more accurate.

Letting Frumpkin take control and start making his way down the hall on the elevated pipe and cable road these people had so thoughtfully provided for them. There was something so simple and freeing about the quiet of Frumpkin’s mind (smarter than an animal’s but simpler than his own human mind) every thought farther removed and not so immediate. _Let’s try to find the one they called Daniel Jackson, mein freund._ This thought was accompanied by the image of the bespectacled man with shaggy hair standing out in a sea of military regulation close cropped cuts. _He seems to be a scholar of some sort, not military he might not keep as tight of tabs on information as the others._

Traveling the network of pipes and vine-like cables revealed a door at the far end of the hallway near where the strange dual-vocaled voice was coming from last night. A small window at the top revealed that it was a stairwell of some sort. Distantly Caleb noted that the door was reminiscent of the cell doors in the sanatorium, heavy metal with a bar lock across them presumably also runed with alarm wards should it be opened without being properly dispelled. A red sign on the door read emergency exit in common. _Ahh….das would be much better for exploring and remaining unseen._ Vaguely he could feel his body, curled up against the comforting warmth of Mollymauk snap his fingers.

The world dissolved briefly into Summer’s warmth and a kaleidoscopic mess of colors before abruptly leaving them on the other side of the door in an empty stairwell. Apparently the pipe road did not extend to the stairwells as they found themselves on a landing of strange not rock ground. Pausing to take stock of their surroundings Frumpkin looked up at Caleb’s direction only to see that the stairs spiraled up almost impossibly far. A railing across from them had enough open space that they could look down when they padded to edge of the landing. It too revealed an almost impossible spiraling descent of stairs. A creeping sense of unease hovered just outside of the calm of Frumpkin’s mind as another maze of stair cases and metal barred doors pressed forward though made of rusty brick instead of this gritty not stone.

This combined with a sinking feeling of despair prompted another mental trill query the fey cat. _I have no idea how we’re going to find him in this maze. We don’t know how many floors are in this place._ Though as he thought that Caleb received an image back of the buttons on the clockwork carriage.

_Achtunzwanzig!_ The reason for the lack of windows finally became clear. At first he had believed that they were in some sort of extra-dimensional space such as the Happy Fun Ball; but, they were instead deep underground. Though if they were that deep these people should at least have broken through to or at least touching the fringes of the Underdark. Though that would explain the armed guards on every floor. The next thought was pure concern, _Mollymauk!_ They were underground, trapped, and seemingly held “prisoner” albeit very politely, and he had dug himself out of his own grave.

_I believe that we must hurry mein freund._ A mental prrt of assent and image of the blond woman (Samantha Carter) that reminded him uncomfortably of an older Astrid, followed by the man called Jack, and the man with the golden brand whose passenger (parasite?) had set Mollymauk so on edge. The message was clear find them and they would find Daniel Jackson.

Not for the first time in the past twenty four hours Caleb wished that he had a spell that would allow him to locate a person or an object in his arsenal. This was going to an almost impossible task with so many floors to search and to stay unseen.

_We are currently on Fünfundzwanzig floor, we’ve been to the einundzwanzigster floor und zweiundzwanzig floor. Let’s try those und see if we can find the ones we are looking for first._ Caleb had to admit that it was much easier climbing a great number of stairs as a cat than when he was in his own body. Upwards they traveled pausing at every landing to read the plaques beside every door noting the floor number.

_Füfunzwanzig, vierundzwanzig, dreiundzwanzig, zweiundzwanzig…_ They paused and listened, attempting to peer under the door but it was no use the door fit flush against the floor. They could hear what sounded like the muffled sound of many people moving around and the faintest traces of the smell of food. The door was as all the others barred with a metal cross bar and had a window near the top. However without the pipe road the window was too high to provide line of sight and without that they weren’t able to poof themselves to the other side. Glancing around Caleb noted that if they jumped up onto the railing, which was a rounded bent and welded thing made of what looked like pipe was a risk. As narrow as it was and a curved surface to boot if they fell he would have to act quickly to poof them back to safety. Unfortunately giving themselves line of sight also meant exposing them to the view of others. Still the needs outweighed even his most cautious and uneasy instincts driven by the increasingly pressing memories of another flight through similar environs. The brief glimpse that they caught revealed a busy corridor, far too dangerous for them to try and poof to the other side.

_Best to try the next floor, ja?_ He directed his familiar up another easy set of stairs this time Frumpkin’s sense of smell picked up a scent that made their ears flatten against their head and the fur bristle along their spine in warning. A flood of memories associated with that smell threatened to overwhelm him held back only by the soft barrier of Frumpkin’s mind against his. Vaguely Caleb was aware of the distant sensation of his body rubbing it’s forearms back in the room and trying to huddle closer into the comforting warmth of Mollymauk in an attempt to chase away the memory of a cold dark room, a chair with leather straps, and the ever present smell of carbolic acid.

Carefully jumping up onto the railing they caught sight of the blond woman Samantha (…not Astrid no matter how much his mind kept superimposing the image of an older version of his former classmate on her features) and Daniel Jackson leaving a room with their backs to the door. Craning their head up Caleb saw that the strange pipe path along the ceiling was also present on this floor as it had been on the floor where they were being housed.

The distant muted feel of fingers rubbing together in a snap caused the world to once again dissolve into warmth and a riot of color before the surface beneath their paws was that same strange vine like textured mess of humming ropes and pipes.

Carefully they snuck along this elevated track stalking their quarry down the hallway towards the smooth metal double doors of the clockwork carriage. Swiveling their ears Caleb was able to catch bits and pieces of their conversation.

“...that iteration of the Eye of Providence as a symbol didn’t come about until the thirteenth century,” Daniel’s voice drifted up to them. Out of context and disjointed as it was the words didn’t mean anything to him but Samantha Carter’s reply caught his attention more fully.

“Thirteenth century but that’s, way later than when Ra was active on Earth. Unless you’re thinking it was another race that transported Caleb’s ancestor’s off Earth?” _Transported my ancestors off Earth? Do they really believe that we came from here? How odd._

“I don’t think Cimmeria was the only time the Asgard took humans off world to establish a protected fail safe population and there is some overlap in the Scandinavian Mythology and the mythology of the Ancient Germanic tribes. Considering how slow the Asgard are to change they might not have even realized that Caleb’s people had moved on to the worship of the Abrahamic faiths.” The man paused to take a breath before forging onwards, “also there’s the dubious evidence that every amateur UFOlogist that combs history and archaeology to try and prove their point likes to bring up of objects that seem to resemble space craft appearing in the backgrounds of paintings from around this time period.”

They were at just the right angle to see the face that Samantha Carter made at the man obviously skeptical (unhappy maybe? It was harder to read emotions from this angle and it wasn’t something he was that good at anyway).

“I know, I know I’m not fully convinced either and at this point until we can find more solid evidence it’s merely conjecture and coincidence. But you can’t deny it’s very compelling conjecture and coincidence.”

The two of them had reached the clockwork carriage doors and pushed the upper of the two buttons on the wall beside it. Waiting for the doors to open, he and Frumpkin would not be able to follow them there without being seen. Frustration caused their tail to lash and only Caleb’s careful reminder that they didn’t know what the humming energy under their paws was prevented a discontented reflexive unsheathing of claws.

“Are you going up or down?” Carter’s voice asked as they stepped into the carriage box. Anticipating the man’s answer they crept forward along their hidden pathway.

“Ah, up. I got permission to send photos of the contents of the books to Catherine Langford to see what she can make of it.” A cold dread ran through Caleb translating into their ears pressing flat to their skull as they hunkered down as close as possible to the humming vine ropes.

_Nein, Nein, Nein! Those are mine and private!_ Terror at the thought of what they would see in either book shook Caleb to the core, he needed to get them back! Up, they needed to go up! Turning back towards the stairs they raced down the path on near soundless feet.

_Door!_ A distant snap. The dissolving world, brief heat, flash of color. _Snap!_ Cold ground and endless maze of stairs. Caleb let Frumpkin take charge directing him up with a plea, _Archeart, Traveler, Wild Mother, Stormlord please point me in the right direction_.

Desperation was causing him to break his own preference of relying on solely on the power and ability to shape reality that he was able to wield instead of entreating the Gods that he had never fully trusted in the first place. Still Caleb hoped that this time one of them would be kind and lend him their aid. A flicker of green their eye on the fourth landing they hit. A faint fading outline of a spectral green hand pointing at the plaque declaring this the eighteenth floor. Not willing to waste any time and not caring if they tumbled down Caleb jumped them onto the railing craning his head to see if there was another elevated pipe path. _Path…We need to go there!_ Snap. The disorienting translocation barely registered to him this time, eyes, ears, and senses focused like a Disintegrate spell on the figures making their way down the hallway from the doors of the clockwork carriage.

_Where are you going? What room are you keeping my books in?_ He thought as he watched from his perch. The two of them stopped by an unassuming door with what looked like a rectangular box with numbers above the handle. Observing as Daniel Jackson punched in four numbers Caleb made note of which ones he pushed. _Ein, Acht, Zwei, Zwei._ His ears picked up the click of a lock releasing. Apparently the numbered rectangle was some sort of puzzle lock. _Neun different numbers and solution of a combination of vier…that makes zehntausend possible ways to solve the puzzle in order to unlock the door_. _Clever…_ Unless one has a method of scrying on their target unseen or otherwise divining the correct combination of numbers there isn’t any way to pick the lock. Thereby forcing a thief to waste valuable time guessing at combinations and leaving themselves vulnerable to getting caught.

Caleb watched as he opened the door to let Samantha Carter in, with the statement of, “here let me get those photographs of the photographs of the first book for you. As I said before if you need assistance with the German translations please let me know.”

The door closed behind them with a damning click. Not wasting any time and not caring if they got caught Caleb jumped down as the door didn’t have a window that he could use to see in. It did however have a gap between the bottom edge of the door and the floor.

Peering through the crack revealed feet and plenty of dark places low to the ground that a cat could hide. _Snap!_ He was suddenly inside the room crouched in the recessed shadows of a desk.

A slightly strangled noise of excitement caught his attention as an exclamation rang out, “These look like advanced physics equations.” 

“I though you might be interested in these,” Daniel’s voice again and it took everything he had not to let his impulse to attack the man translate into the feline instincts of his familiar’s form.

“These are from the second book and what I’m about to email to Catherine Langford to distribute amonst her colleagues on the Biblical Archaeology side of the house.” _Nein! Not that one!_ He could take his spell book being raided after all while it incensed him it was expected from another scholar of the arcane arts (though he hadn’t seen anything that indicated that this Daniel Jackson was practitioner of the arcane) it was quite another for them to go through the other book. The one that he wouldn’t even let Nott see. That one was his, it’s contents were for him and him alone. He couldn’t do anything right now, not in this form at least, but a plan was already forming on how he would go about getting his books back.

“This…This doesn’t look like any language that I know of…It looks a little like hieroglyphics but not any that we’ve encountered so far.” _Okay they don’t recognize written Celestial but it’s still not safe from Comprehend Languages and I know they don’t have a shortage of salt or soot here._ So lost in his spiraling panic was he that Caleb almost missed what Daniel Jackson’s response was.

“The closest written language that I could find to it is the Alchemical shorthand symbology, which again points to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Even then it’s not exact, but given the evidence of these two books, the symbology of some of the embroideries Mollymauk’s coat, and possible ties to the Abrahamic Faiths Judaism in particular, well outsourcing seemed the best idea.” Clearly the man was a fellow scholar and if it weren’t for the fact that the texts the man was waxing eloquent speculations on belonged to Caleb and not given over willingly then he might have looked forward to doing research together. Instead he tucked himself farther into the obscuring shadows of the desk he settled into wait, watch, and observe. _After all_ , Bren thought, _know thy enemy is the most important rule of engagement._

*********

Jack paused mid-sentence in his attempt to convince General Hammond that whatever cloaking technology in that necklace that Caleb was wearing was better off on the child despite the security risk it posed. _Son of a…_ The realization that he had essentially been mind whammied by the devilish tattooed man for the last hour hit him.

“Sir disregard anything I said in the last hour, our purple guest Jedi’d me.” _How the hell did he do it though without the others seeing? And how many times has he done it before and we didn’t notice?_ Jack’s mind blurred through scenarios and possible fail safes to counteract them. If Tealeaf did this to the wrong person he could essentially waltz right out the front door of the Mountain which would be disasterous.

“I was warned in advance Colonel. At this point it was just stalling you long enough that it either wore off on it’s own or we figured out a way to snap you out of it that didn’t involve giving you a concussion.” General Hammond’s calm response brought a small measure of relief, he hated things that played with his brain. The Ancient’s archive, the Touched Virus, that bizzare sentient crystal that trapped him in another dimension and proceeded to pretend to be him complete with his own memories. There were far too many incidents for his peace of mind.

“What are we going to do about it, sir? I don’t want to put the kids in an isolation cell with him but I doubt the three of them will allow themselves to be separated. Not mention Dr. Jackson’s theory that the kids are the ones calling the shots. Which as unbelievable as it sounds the more I observe of them interacting the more I’m convinced that he’s right. As usual.”

General Hammond’s expression soured a bit as he contemplated his answer to Jack’s question and basic SITREP. Watching as he thought his answer over, a sinking feeling began to settle in the pit of his stomach. If Hammond was taking this long to answer then there was something else going on, some other information that he had access to that Jack didn’t which was effecting his decision.

“As disturbing as the knowledge that a pair of five year olds are the ones calling the shots in this situation, and as much as I would like to do something Mr. Tealeaf; the fact of the matter is we can’t afford to right now. We may need whatever technology or ability he has in the very near future,” the grim tone in Hammond’s voice sent prickles of alarm down the back of Jack’s neck. It was a sensation that he had long ago learned to pay attention to on ops.

“Sir?” _What fresh hell is coming our way and how do we stop it? Tell me how I can protect my team from what’s coming_. The General sighed tiredly grimacing before he answered.

“ _Someone_ leaked our security footage from last night to our _friends_ at the NID. Colonel Maybourne informed me of his impending visit to acquire all alien technology and specimen’s that you team brought back with you from this last mission,” there was a slight sneer to his voice as he said this. “I can stall them for approximately forty-eight hours by demanding they go through the appropriate channels of a visit request and security badging procedures but even that is not a guarantee. I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you how bad this situation is. I understand that this won’t be enough time to get them back to their homeworld, nor enough time to convince the Tokra that their ambassador needs to be off Earth immediately after we essentially barred their other agents from our planet. So we will do nothing about Mr. Tealeaf; I have no desire to see any living sentient being, except for a few very troublesome System Lords, in the their hands let alone children.”

Jack understood immediately what the General wasn’t saying, they would need Mollymauk to do whatever it was he had just done to Jack to try and keep all of them safe. Caleb would be safe he was Human or near Human enough to be protected under the same guidelines that protected Teal’c, but Essek and Mollymauk were fair game.

“I see. I’ll let my team know and try to run as much interference as possible within the bounds of plausible deniability. Any other bombshells for me, Sir?” Jack had a sinking feeling there was more that Hammond knew but wasn’t letting on. Carefully with an air of casualty the belied the gravity of the situation the General pulled a red folder out from where it was disguised in a stack of similar folders and handed it to Jack.

“See that this gets to Maj Fraiser, she will know what to do with it. I had our Exo Bio teams put a rush on the results with instructions to destroy all left over samples once finished.” That wasn’t common procedure, and it could only mean that the folder in his hands carried the DNA results for their three guests. _There’s something in the DNA results that he doesn’t want getting back to the NID._ That uneasy feeling that had been prickling the hair on his neck turned into full blown alarm bells ringing in the back of his head.

_I really wish that just once we could catch a break and have a nice boring mission without any catastrophic fall out. Is that too much ask for?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter will see the fun really begin to start with the revelation of the DNA results and the fallout thereof.


	18. Are We Human or Are We Dancer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the DNA results are revealed and a plan is hatched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this an update that isn't three months or more after the last one...Shocking. But really you guys are awesome and it makes my day to read your reviews. Especially since this year has been a trash fire. In other news parts of this chapter are simply my excuse to throw in my own scientific headcannons regarding the diets of Drow and other D&D races based on real world biology and the cannon lore regarding the races, so yeah. I'm an unrepentant nerd and lets leave it at that.

Janet stared at the results of the earlier blood tests revealing their three guests nutrient levels feeling a migraine coming on. Caleb’s were the lowest as expected but also showed a distinct lack of trace elements that would indicate a diet with preservatives other than salt, pickling, smoking, and drying food. Which meant that there was a higher likelihood of his system having an adverse and possibly anaphalactic reaction to any of the chemical preservatives that were commonly found in the modern diet.

It also meant that she had to be careful what carrier and binder method she chose for the supplements. Still other than a slightly above human baseline metabolism as evidenced by his higher than normal temperature, his was the most straight forward of the three. Mollymauk’s incredibly high internal temperature indicated that he should have a metabolic rate similar to a hummingbird’s; however, his nutrient levels hadn’t dropped as severely as either of the boy’s had.

It should have been the opposite way round with Mollymauk’s dropping the most in a twenty-four hour period, Caleb close behind, and Essek’s barely changing at all. Instead Caleb had lost the most, Essek following close behind, and Mollymauk losing about a quarter of what either of the boy’s did. She was still going to increase the supplement dosage for all three towards the upper end of what was safe for human consumption and dial up or down as needed. At least Mollymauk’s results revealed a diet and indicators similar to Caleb’s that she could pretty much use the same formulation and just increase the iron levels.

Which brought her back around to the cause of her threatening migraine. Essek’s results were a headache to say the least. According to his results he was most likely lactose intolerant, his gastrointestinal system wasn’t able to break down certain plant proteins, and to top it all off Janet had already identified at least three chemicals found in common preservatives that had the potential to kill him if ingested. Additionally he had high trace levels of pantothenic acid, biotin, and folic acid in his system possibly indicating that his diet regularly included the consumption of insects as a source of protein. Now she was no anthropologist nor was she an ethnobiologist; but, based on these test results she would hazard a guess that Essek was from an entirely different region than Mollymauk and Caleb. Possibly from a cave dwelling or possibly subterranean culture, which would explain his photo-sensitivity and why his system was unable to break down certain plant proteins.

Still she made notes to make sure that Essek’s supplements also included both pantothenic and folic acid as well as biotin. Trying to make sure that the three of them didn’t ingest something that could possibly kill them was going to be a nightmare. A grim clearing of a throat startled Janet out of her contemplation and idle note taking. Looking up from the three folders spread out across her desk Janet saw a pensive looking Colonel O’Neill standing in the doorway of her office holding a red folder with tense fingers.

“Colonel, can I help you?” She asked, a prickle of unease beginning to raise the hair on the back of her neck. If Jack was willingly walking into the infirmary to her office in order to deliver something personally it meant that something had gone wrong.

“General Hammond had our Exo Bio team rush the DNA results,” he held out the red folder to her as he spoke. Something had to have happened there was no reason to rush the DNA test’s results otherwise.

“I see, did he give a reason why the results were rushed?” She asked, feeling out what Jack was and wasn’t allowed or willing to say. Clearly whatever the reason was it disturbed him enough to set him back on edge. She watched as he shook his head slightly subtly ensuring that none of her medical technicians were anywhere near her office. When he had reassured himself that none were close enough to notice or overhear he moved farther into her office and closed the door. _Something definitely happened if he’s being this careful._

Handing the folder over to her he said, “It seems that we have an NID mole in our midst. Someone leaked the at least part of the security footage from last night to Maybourne’s lot. Apparently he’s making a trip here to collect the alien technology and the specimens that came through the gate.”

His lip curled in disgust as he said the specimens and Janet couldn’t blame him. Leaden dread settled in the pit of her stomach, this was the last kind of complication they needed at this moment. Taking a deep breath she considered her options, she had an external hard drive that was authorized for the network she could put all of their guest’s medical data on that and put it in the safe. It wasn’t a perfect a fool proof plan and she should probably copy them onto a couple of unmarked CD-Rs as a precaution, however against Information Security policies it may be. Unfortunately it had become a distressingly regular occurrence since the NID had started inserting their presence into the SGC.

“Have you looked at the contents yet, sir?” She asked warily, hoping for a heads up at what might be coming.

“No I didn’t want to risk curious gazes wandering where they shouldn’t. All I know is that the General told Exo Bio to destroy whatever was left of the blood samples and delete the information from their system.” _That means there’s something in these results that he doesn’t want the NID to see. Something he is willing break all protocol and regulations to keep it out of their hands_. Setting the folder down on her desk with all the graveness of a person facing a firing squad, she opened it with the briefest of hesitation and reviewed the contents.

_This cannot be correct,_ she thought as she realized what the results said, _it’s just not possible_.

“Doc, what is it?” Jack’s worried question snapped her out of her shock and disbelief. Closing the folder quickly once again obscuring its contents from prying eyes, she started gathering up the information regarding their guest’s baseline medical tests before answering the question. “I can see why General Hammond wants to bury this information. Did he tell you not to share this information with the rest of SG-1, sir?”

“Doctor Fraiser?” He questioned wariness beginning to etch itself into his posture at her question and actions, “he didn’t why?”

“I think it would be wise to gather the rest of your team Colonel, luckily for us the infirmary cameras can’t wired for sound due to HIPAA regulations and I make sure it stays that way,” Janet’s voice was grim. Those results were a can of worms that they absolutely did not need to be dealing with right now. Especially with an impending visit from one of the most dangerous and persistent thorns in the SGC’s sides. Jack nodded and turned to leave, she was glad he trusted her enough not to demand an explanation immediately the less times she had to speak this aloud the safer their three guests would be. Settling in to wait Janet contemplated the implications of the information in that red folder.

*********

The prickling sense of unease that had been raising the fine hair along the back of his neck since General Hammond had given him the folder was now a crawling sensation of alarm. Every honed instinct he had was screaming that whatever the contents of that folder said it was going to put his team in danger. First he had to find his team and then they could plan around whatever fallout might happen. The easiest ones to find would probably be Major Carter and Daniel since last he heard they were planning on attempting to solve the puzzle of finding out where their guests were from in their respective labs. Though the labs were on the same floor Sam’s was the closer of the two and should be easier to roust out of it than Daniel. A short trip later he was standing in the doorway to her lab and, as suspected, she was pouring over photo copies of what looked like Hollywood’s idea of magic scribbles interspersed with a lot of math.

“Find anything interesting, Carter?” he asked by way of greeting, and smiled inwardly to himself as she jumped, having been so engrossed in her own study that she hadn’t heard his approach.

“Sir? I…Yes. Honestly Colonel, I wish we had someway to talk to Caleb’s parent because this,” she said holding up a couple of the photocopies a familiar slightly manic gleam in her eyes told him she was in physics raptures, “once you remove the esoteric gibberish is advanced quantum physics. Sir, it looks as if they solved the Quantum Suicide theory! That should be impossible the calculations alone shouldn’t work. Honestly the only way these do is if the Universe exists in thirty-two dimensions and every possibility is expressed; however, the calculations are complete and they’re sound.”

He hadn’t really expected a response but he would take the welcome distraction from the worry that stalked his thoughts. So he responded, “Quantum Suicide theory?”

“Sir, it’s a thought experiment much like Schroedinger’s cat. The theory is that you take a six shot revolver, put a bullet in one of the chambers and then spin it,” she paused for a second to catch her breath.

“Major this theory sounds a whole lot like Russian Roulette.” The manic gleam in her eye was starting resemble a fever glaze as she realized what he said. That look generally was a prelude to things going boom when it involved technology and he was really hoping that this thought experiment didn’t fall into that category.

“Exactly sir, basically it’s a theoretical game of Russian Roulette hence the suicide part. Technically you have a one in six chance that the bullet is in the chamber that’s being fired with each successive firing those odds decrease until the odds that you fire the gun and the bullet isn’t fired are so astronomically low that it’s impossible without a series of highly improbable set of circumstances,” once again she paused to catch her breath before continuing. “The thought experiment poses that the more times you pull the trigger and the bullet is not fired that there are timelines where the bullet was fired and that those timelines collapse leaving only the one where bullet is not fired as the one we’re aware of.”

It was a twisty mind bending thought experiment that reminded him of that mirror that Daniel claimed took him to an alternate Earth. Which had been pretty hard to discount when he had been correct that Apophis had been planning to destroy Earth like in that other timeline. But this was just a thought experiment not a device, unless what Sam was saying that the calculations to create such a device were recorded in those papers. 

“Sir if I’m reading this right and the formula is correct this is calculating the odds to pinpoint one of these collapsed timelines. To find an echo of it if you will,” Same was breathing heavily at this point her excitement dying down slightly now that she had shared her findings. “But that’s not why you came to my office, what do you need?”

That question reminded him forcibly of the red folder, its contents, and the looming NID threat. There was no way that he could openly state why he needed her and the rest of the team in Janet’s office; not with the fact that they had at least one NID mole in the SGC. Given that fact he made the decision to speak around the actual reason until they were in Janet’s office.

“Janet has some interesting test results from this morning that she wants to share with the team. Bring whatever you were working on Major, we have a bit of a pest problem. Do you know if Daniel is in his office?” Sam gave him an odd look but gathered up the sheaf of photocopies and notes then followed him to the door.

“Sir?” She asked quietly as they headed down the hall towards Danny’s lab. Glancing around surreptitiously to make sure that no one was close enough to hear though it wouldn’t do much about the security cameras, though the resolution made lip reading difficult. Deciding to risk it he responded just loudly enough for her to hear, “Maybourne.”

Glancing at her out of his peripherals he could just see her silent ‘ah’ of realization. Quickly continuing the vein of conversation that they had been having in order to throw any possible eavesdroppers off the scent Jack said, “If they were so advanced scientifically and possibly technologically why even bother with the ‘magical’ gobbledy-gook?”

Catching on quickly to what he was doing she picked up the thread and smoothly fell back into the conversation as if there hadn’t been a break in it at all. “Sir, I think we’re dealing with Clarke’s third law. ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ Except it really should be any sufficiently advanced science. If they’ve lost the continuity of knowledge and only a few passed it on through the generations it’s possible that they don’t even realize that it’s not magic.”

By this time they had arrived outside of Daniel’s lab and found him sitting in front of his computer seemingly looking at a site talking about Victorian undergarments. Given the fact that the bundle of clothing that their guests had brought with them he guessed that was reason for the research but he still made a note to tease the archaeologist over it at later date in time. It didn’t take long to collect him and begin the hunt for Teal’c.

It took them around thirty minutes to find Teal’c and get back to Dr. Frasier’s office. Closing the door behind him with an ominous click Jack looked to where Janet was sitting a grim look on her face hands folded over the damning red folder.

“Alright doctor, we’re all here. What’s in those DNA tests that has both you and General Hammond spooked?” That was the million dollar question that had been eating at him since he had been handed the folder. He could feel his eyes narrow as Janet took a deep steadying breath before answering. _Whatever is in these results it’s going to be a headache and a half._

“Well the good news is according to these results Caleb is almost entirely human; which we expected but confirmation is always welcome. Especially in circumstances like these.” Her voice was steady but Jack could tell that she was working herself up to the news that had both her and the General willing to throw protocol and regulation out the window. To his left he could hear Daniel make a quiet noise of excitement.

“Almost entirely human?” He said and the excitement was clearly audible and barely restrained in his voice. Dr. Fraiser only raised an eyebrow at his words and responded crisply, “I’ll get to that in a bit. His genetic profile is well within the category of altered human. Interestingly enough so is Mr. Tealeaf’s.”

_I did not just hear that correctly. That guy who looks like a colorblind artist’s idea of a demon with a circus obsession, counts as a genetically altered human?_ Looking around at his team he could see equally astonished looks echoing his train of thought. Skepticism gradually began to creep in as they were unable to reconcile the image of Mollymauk Tealeaf and human.

“Not that I doubt your analysis doc, but are you sure about that?” His voice sounded slightly strangled to his own ears as he asked the question that was going through his team’s heads.

“Incredibly sure, Colonel. I’ve reviewed it multiple times according to these results Mr. Tealeaf is somewhere between one quarter to half human. Which by definition is enough for us to be able to make a solid argument that he is a genetically modified human no matter what his outward appearance may be.” The look on her face was determined almost daring them to contradict her analysis.

“If his genetic profile is a quarter to half human, then what’s the rest?” Daniel asked curiously. _What are you thinking Danny?_ Jack thought as he shot a glance back towards the archaeologist receiving only a familiar “What?!” expression in return. All of a sudden Jack was reminded of Daniel’s theory about their three guests being Ancients or having Ancient DNA. _He’s looking for confirmation_ , he realized.

“That I can’t answer, the rest of his genetic profile is completely alien. I’m not sure how; as the likelihood of an alien species being biologically compatible with humans without sharing a common genetic ancestor is incredibly low.” There was an odd note to that statement that had Jack narrowing his eyes again this time in suspicion. There was something else she wasn’t saying or hadn’t said yet that was causing some sort of conflict with her.

“So far this all sounds like good news, doc. So what is it about Essek’s results that has both you and the General so alarmed?” _Bingo,_ he thought as Janet’s expression grew just a slight bit grimmer at his question.

“Essek isn’t human. I hesitate to even call his race human adjacent since his genetic profile is completely alien and doesn’t share any common ancestors with the human genome. His race is however, according to certain genetic markers that I found in both Mr. Tealeaf’s and Caleb’s genetic profiles, biologically compatible enough with the human genome to produce reproductively viable offspring with humans.” Her voice was steady but there was a layer of steel beneath it. _Dammit, that would do it. Maybourne is a slimeball whose moral compass only points South and the scientists he’s employed won’t be much better if at all. Abandoning a five year old that can’t speak or understand English to those scalpel happy lunatics at Area 51 is not an option._ An idea was beginning to form in his head but he would need his team’s full backing before he could even think about running past the General.

“You said that both Mollymauk and Caleb share certain genetic markers; were those markers compared to Jack’s genetic profile?” Daniel spoke up breaking through his furtive contingency planning. If Essek was an Ancient there would be no stopping the NID nor the Goa’uld if they found out. This was a can of worms that he could have done without opening.

“All three of their genetic profiles were compared to Colonel O’Neill’s and none had any commonalities with his. Moreover the markers that Mr. Tealeaf has are bare traces and not the largess of his genetic profile. That is yet another alien profile that doesn’t match Essek’s. So we’re looking at two completely alien races that are genetically compatible with humans.” Jack sighed in relief and then grimaced as the rest of what Janet had said sank in. That was an added complication that would make his plan a lot harder to execute but still possible. The fact that their guests weren’t Ancients meant that it might still be possible to get them out of harm’s way and prevent the NID from gaining access to the Tok’ra’s ambassador to Earth as well. It all boiled down to how much they believed they could trust Selmac.

“Sir, we can’t let Colonel Maybourne take Mollymauk or the kids,” Sam’s expression could only be called mulish as worry chased its way across her features. Before he could answer her Teal’c chose to speak up the same grim determination reflected on his face as Sam’s and as a glance proved Daniel’s, “I agree with Major Carter. It would reflect poorly on us to allow them to be taken by the NID.”

“Jack, how long do we have before Maybourne arrives?” Daniel’s question brought the rising upset to a halt. Looking over at him Jack could see that his eyes were focused somewhere on the middle-ground as his mind ran through information at speeds that he found frankly enviable at times. Still it was a question that he could answer which would go a long way to making them all feel a little more in control of the situation.

“General Hammond can probably manage to stall his arrival for forty-eight hours at most, worst case scenario he’ll be here tomorrow morning.” He could see the grim realization of just how little time they had to prepare.

“That’s not enough time to figure out where they’re from and send them back. I’m having trouble pinpointing when Caleb’s ancestors were snatched off Earth. Most things are pointing towards around the twelfth or thirteenth centuries except for their clothing. And while it’s possible that it’s a case of parallel technological advancement in the case of the aniline dyes being a byproduct of the coal industry which would indicate some sort of industrial advancement; however, that becomes less likely when one examines the clothing they brought with them through the Stargate.” Daniel paused just long enough to catch his breath and make sure that they were following his logic. “One piece in particular clearly belonged to a woman probably of upper class or noble standing is the most out of place. Near as I can tell it appears to be, from my limited amount of research given the early modern era is not my area of expertise at all, a corset similar to ones made on Earth during the eighteen nineties with modifications that lean more towards the early ninteen hundreds and lacing technique that wasn’t developed or widely used until the nineteen tens and later,”

Jack could hear the frustration bubbling under the surface in Daniel’s voice. It wasn’t often that things left Danny this stumped for long and certainly even rarer for him to have so many conflicting clues. No wonder he was practically snarling in frustration.

“Okay worst case scenario we can’t find a way to get them home before Maybourne’s visit. Doc, how fast can you get another DNA profile? One that can pass cursory NID scrutiny?” He didn’t quite bark out like he would disciplining unruly cadets. He had to keep them moving and give them a goal to work towards; a plan of action they could follow at the very least.

“Somewhat easily, sir. Why?” Janet’s response was exactly what he wanted to hear. That would make things easier. He took a deep steadying breath this plan would only work if he could get everyone on board with it. It was the best he could on short notice that had the highest shot of working.

“Good, do so. Find someone you trust in Exo Bio if you have to. Then switch the results with Caleb’s, give Caleb’s profile to Essek, and leave Tealeaf’s alone. Hopefully that will satisfy Maybourne that we’re complying and not look any deeper until they’re back at Area 51. In the mean time we don’t know how much of the security footage made it into Maybourne’s hands so we’ll operate as if he knows about the necklace. Sam do you think you could cobble together something that looks convincing enough that it might be some sort of cloaking device that would interfere with optics?” Scanning his team’s faces he could them already starting to follow his train of thought. Sam was nodding silently obviously already contemplating how she could make something that could pass as a cloaking device. _Good we’ve only got one shot at this if we’re going to make it work._

“Now comes the part I’m still on the fence about. How much do we trust Selmac?” Unease of varying degrees traveled across their expressions. From deeply uneasy (Daniel, and Sam) to mildly uneasy (Janet) and just plain hard to read (Teal’c). He didn’t like it anymore than they did, his instincts were screaming at him to keep the kids as far away from the Tok’ra as possible. However, this longshot plan was the only way that he could see to solve both the issue of the children’s safety in regards to the NID and the safety of the Tok’ra Earth alliance.

“Sir?” Sam spoke up first wariness etched into her posture.

“A father wanting to catch up with his daughter over lunch or coffee would be a plausible explanation for why both you and retired General Carter are not in the Mountain when Maybourne is here. It also makes a good enough excuse to take both boys on a field trip to get them ‘acclimated’ to Earth,” He paused as his team’s and Dr. Fraiser’s eyes widened as they realized what he was getting at. Continuing before they could say anything Jack said, “After all according the DNA results we’re handing over to Maybourne they’re both human or so close to it that it’s negligible. All we have to do is claim that some SGC personnel are interested in adopting the boys. Which would leave the only ‘alien’ in our custody the one that is at least a quarter human.”

He hoped that they could agree to this plan as it was the only one he had that didn’t involve Stargating their three guests to one the allied worlds they’d visited and running the risk of attracting the Goa’uld’s attention. Cimmeria would probably be the only one that was safe in that regard but given the way Mollymauk looked and the superstitions of the Cimmerians he didn’t think that would be the best idea. Add in the fact that he was strangely hesitant to let Asgard know about Tealeaf and the kids. If there was any truth to Daniel’s speculation about Caleb’s ancestors he wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to let Thor and his people know that they had left whatever planet they were from. On the otherhand they just might be able to tell them how to get the three home. _Argh, if only we had some easy way to contact them._

“That could work, but how are you going to convince Mollymauk to let the boys out of his sight, Jack? I highly doubt that he’ll agree to this if he can’t come along, and there’s no way we could disguise him as human. Not unless it was Halloween, at least. Speaking of which what about Essek? Last I checked charcoal grey is not exactly an Earth standard skin tone,” Daniel said. Jack could tell that he wasn’t one hundred percent happy with the plan but was at least willing to implement it if a better solution wasn’t found. Not the ringing endorsement that he had hoped for but he’d take it, the more backing he could get from his team the better the chance he had of selling it to Hammond.

“That’s million dollar question. Unfortunately if we have to put this plan into motion we’re going to have to explain it to Mr. Tealeaf in blunt detail. Press the fact that the boy’s safety depends on it, that there’s someone coming who would take him and the boys away to experiment on them. We can’t smuggle all three of them out of the mountain because there’s no way that we know of to pass him off as human.” Jack paused debating whether or not to add the next part but he couldn’t think of anyone else who would have tipped the General off as to the fact that he had been mind whammied earlier. It would only be news to Janet and well she’d seen enough weirdness that it probably would just be added as a footnote in Tealeaf’s file.

“Additionally we know that he managed to hypnotize slash Jedi mind trick me, We need him here to do the same Maybourne if he can. If we stress that this is the only way we can think of to keep the boys safe we might be able to get him to agree. I’m still anticpating it being a fight but it’s what we’ve got so far.” He could see Daniel nodding skeptically and Teal’c was wearing his “this seems like a bad idea but I’m going to trust that you know what you’re doing” expression. Sam was largely still preoccupied by calculating just what she needed to do to create a fake cloaking necklace. _Alright I knew this was going to be a hard sell, hell I’m not happy with it. However, if it’s a matter of attempting a plan that we aren’t happy about implementing but has the highest chance of working or possibly letting that slimeball Maybourne get his hands on our guests…I know which one I’d rather take my chances with. Hopefully Hammond feels the same way._

“As for Essek’s skin color, it isn’t that far off that people will notice since he keeps the hood on his sweatshirt up at all times, they’re more likely to notice the sunglasses. Speaking of which, Doc, in case anyone asks is there some medical condition that we could use to possibly explain his skin color and light sensitivity?” Jack asked belatedly realizing that there had been a second question in Daniel’s response. Janet looked thoughtful for a second, clearly going over medical conditions and symptoms.

Finally she said, “Xeroderma Pigmentosum. It would explain the light sensitivity, the fact that he’s pretty much covered from head to toe, the sunglasses inside at all times. It might even explain away questions regarding his skin tone if anyone asks. After all even the darkest skin would pale if he’s had to avoid all contact with sunlight his entire life.”

“Xeroderma Pig-whasits? English Doc, I need you to army proof this for me.” He was grasping at straws now and he needed to be able to explain this in a way that could convince Hammond this was a good idea and if he couldn’t cover all his bases they’d be back at square one. Janet didn’t quite sigh but obligingly started to explain.

“Xeroderma Pigmentosum is a rare genetic disorder in which the body is unable to repair UV damage to its cells. It leaves those that have it hypersensitive to light, sunlight especially. People suffering from this disorder sunburn easier and much more severely than people without it. It also leaves them at higher risk for skin cancers, and other metastatic cancers including brain cancer. Also nerve damage, hearing loss, and seizures are among other common complications,” Her recitation was grim and matter of fact. So much so that he suspected that she had seen at least one case of this disorder in her medical career and he didn’t envy her for it. That was a gruesome sounding condition and he didn’t need to ask what the life expectancy for those afflicted with it was, not with a laundry list of symptoms like that.

“We’ll go with that if anyone asks. Unless anyone has any better ideas I’m going to go run this plan by General Hammond. Speak now or forever hold your peace.” Jack could see a grim sort of determination painted on their faces that he knew matched his own. It wasn’t a great plan, there were more possible points of failure than he would like but it was what they had. If it meant that they could protect innocents, particularly children, from a fate worse than death then he’d take it. _Please let this be enough,_ it was as close to a prayer as he got these days; but, if there was anyone listening he’d take the help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure when the next chapter will be out but I will try my best to ensure that there isn't a months long gap between this chapter and the next. Next chapter should pick back up with Mollymauk and the boys. Not sure if we'll get to Maybourne's visit in the next chapter or the one after that. We'll see how much the characters cooperate or if they decide to go off on tangents like they did this chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Why yes I did just turn Mollymauk into a Warlock in an attempt to even the level playing field between the rest of the M9 and him. Also loosely inspired by my headcannon that Lucien was part of the Order of the Profane Soul before he died, given some of the comments Cree made in Episode 14 and the probably soon to be Jossed fan theory that The Traveler is Artagan.


End file.
